New York City Council

New York City Council
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Adrienne Adams (D) since January 5, 2022
Deputy Speaker	Diana Ayala (D) since January 5, 2022
Majority Leader	Amanda Farías (D) since January 3, 2024
Minority Leader	Joe Borelli (R) since November 17, 2021
Majority Whip	Selvena Brooks-Powers (D) since January 5, 2022
Minority Whip	Inna Vernikov (R) since January 5, 2022
Structure
Seats	51
Political groups	Majority (45)   Democratic (45) Minority (6)   Republican (6)
Committees	See standing committees
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post (general elections) Ranked-choice voting (primary and special elections)
Last election	November 7, 2023
Next election	November 4, 2025
Meeting place
New York City Hall
Website
Official website

The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.

The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of city agencies' land use decisions, and legislating on a variety of other issues. It also has sole responsibility for approving the city budget. Members elected are limited to two consecutive four-year terms in office but may run again after a four-year respite.

The head of the city council is called the speaker. The current speaker is Adrienne Adams, a Democrat from the 28th district in Queens. The speaker sets the agenda and presides at city council meetings, and all proposed legislation is submitted through the Speaker's Office. Majority Leader Amanda Farías leads the chamber's Democratic majority. Minority Leader Joe Borelli leads the six Republican council members.

As of 2022, the council has 38 standing committees and 4 subcommittees, with oversight of various functions of the city government. Each council member sits on at least three standing, select or subcommittees (listed below).^[1] The standing committees meet at least once per month. The speaker of the council, the majority leader, and the minority leader are all ex officio members of every committee.

Council members are elected every four years. The exception is two consecutive two-year terms every twenty years to allow for redistricting after each national census (starting in 2001 and 2003 for the 2000 census and again in 2021 and 2023 for the 2020 census).^[2]