Among a wave of noteworthy results in this fall’s off-year elections, Zohran Mamdani’s selection as the next Mayor of New York City was perhaps the most closely watched and widely discussed. Though much of that commentary has focused on the new Mayor himself, the New York City Council appears poised to exert its own power as both a counterweight to and partner with the incoming Mamdani administration.
Most notably, new Council Speaker Julie Menin has indicated her intention to rely on the Council’s subpoena power to issue subpoenas to private parties for the first time as an element of a reinvigorated investigatory agenda to go after what she has called “bad actor corporations.” And key hires by Mayor Mamdani, including experienced public servants with significant experience investigating private industry, strongly suggest that corporate oversight will be a priority for his administration. As part of the Mayor’s transition effort, Lina Khan—former Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) (and congressional investigator)—reportedly is “scouring New York City’s laws to find dormant or underused mayoral authority that could allow” his administration to “take action in a hurry” with existing legal authorities.
In this alert, we describe the New York City Council’s investigatory authority and subpoena power, as well as likely targets for Council-led investigations.