New York City Council — Documentation

Overview

OpenCongress is a free, nonpartisan platform designed to make legislative information accessible to everyone. We believe that understanding what your local government does shouldn't require specialized knowledge or expensive subscriptions.

This section covers the New York City Council — the city's legislative body of 51 members representing 51 districts across the five boroughs. The Council passes local laws (Introductions), adopts resolutions, and shapes the city budget and land-use decisions.

Our mission is simple: provide clear, accurate, and timely information about the Council's activity — from committee votes to local legislation — without editorial bias or political spin.

Free — core access at no cost
Nonpartisan — fact-based information
Open — source code available

What we track

OpenCongress brings the full picture of City Council activity into one place:

Legislation — Introductions (Int.) and resolutions, with their text and status
Votes — committee and full-Council roll-call votes
Council members — profiles, party, district, and leadership roles
Committees — committee assignments and hearings
Land use — ULURP applications and related actions, where available

Data sources

All Council data on OpenCongress comes directly from official New York City sources. We don't filter, editorialize, or modify the data in any way.

NYC Legistar

The City Council's official legislative system. It is the authoritative source for matters (Introductions and resolutions), actions, votes, committees, and the Council's own official summaries.

NYC Open Data

The city's open-data portal provides an independent copy of Council legislation that joins back to Legistar — a second source we use to cross-check completeness and accuracy.

Verification

Every piece of data links back to the official Legistar record so you can always verify the information at its source.

How data is collected & updated

We sync data from the NYC Legistar API on a regular schedule so you always have the latest information. Different types of data are updated at different frequencies based on how often they change.

Data type	Update frequency	Notes
Legislation	Daily	Introductions and resolutions
Votes & actions	Daily	Committee and full-Council votes
Council members	Per term	Profiles, party, district, leadership
Committees	Weekly	Assignments and hearings

Real-time availability depends on the NYC Legistar API. There may be occasional delays between when the Council takes action and when it appears on our platform.

AI & summaries

Unlike our other jurisdictions, NYC legislation summaries are NOT AI-generated. Each Introduction and resolution carries the Council's own official summary, published in Legistar, which we display as-is.

Official summaries

The summary you read on a matter is the City Council's official summary, sourced directly from Legistar — not written or rephrased by AI.

AI is used only for the optional conversational assistant, which helps you explore Council data in plain language. Any AI-generated response is clearly labeled, written to be factual rather than persuasive, and always links back to the official source.

Privacy & data handling

OpenCongress is built to respect your privacy. We don't sell your data, run ads, or take funding from political organizations.

Encrypted — all connections are secured, and conversations with the AI assistant are encrypted
Anonymous mode — browse and ask questions without an account
Yours to delete — you can delete your account and your data at any time
Privacy-respecting analytics — no invasive third-party tracking

For the full details, see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Open source & technology

OpenCongress is built with modern, reliable technology for a fast, accessible experience on any device — server-side rendering, optimized data loading, and screen-reader support.

It's also open source software. We believe transparency in civic technology starts with transparent code.