Committee on Civil and Human Rights meeting
April 28, 2026, 10:00 AM
The Committee on Civil and Human Rights held an oversight hearing on the implementation of the Fair Chance Act, examining both challenges and documented successes in reducing employment barriers for people with prior arrests or convictions. No legislation was voted on.
What was discussed
- Call to order Sergeant Cameron conducted a sound check and the Sergeant at Arms opened the Committee on Civil and Human Rights hearing, reminding attendees of decorum before the Chair gaveled in.
- Chair Nurse opens the oversight hearing on the Fair Chance Act Chairperson Sandy Nurse framed the hearing on the Fair Chance Act and Fair Chance for Housing Law, citing the scale of criminal-record discrimination, racial disparities in the justice system, and the roughly 750,000 New York City residents who carry a conviction, and said the committee would
- Oath administered to the administration witnesses Committee Counsel swore in the New York City Commission on Human Rights witnesses before their testimony.
- CCHR opening testimony on Fair Chance enforcement, outreach, and education Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward of the Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) described the agency's dual mandate of education and enforcement, walked through the Fair Chance employment and housing protections, and said the Commission spent the first year of Fair Chance Housing focused on outreach
- What does CCHR's Fair Chance outreach, technical assistance, and training program involve, and how many people has it reached? Chairperson Sandy Nurse asked what CCHR's technical assistance and trainings entail and for updated numbers; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward said the agency fields questions from the public, employers, and law firms, runs the 'Criminal History? You Can Work With That' campaign, and gave
- How does CCHR handle inquiries, and why do so many lack an identified protected class? Chairperson Sandy Nurse pressed on differing inquiry totals between the Mayor's Management Report and CCHR's annual report and on why many inquiries have no protected class; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward attributed the gap to when data is run, said Human Rights Specialists staff the info line
- Why has CCHR resolved no Fair Chance inquiries through precomplaint intervention since 2021? Chairperson Sandy Nurse asked why precomplaint interventions had stopped for Fair Chance cases and how often such cases qualify for expedited handling; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward said early cases were facial ad and application violations that could be fixed quickly, while current cases
- Public Advocate Williams reflects on sponsoring the Fair Chance Act Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, prime sponsor of the original Fair Chance Act and its 2021 amendment, delivered remarks on the economic harm of criminal-record discrimination, citing a Brennan Center estimate that related underemployment costs New Yorkers about $12.6 billion a year, and said the
- Has the Fair Chance Act produced formal complaints from employers or measurable hiring gains? Public Advocate Jumaane Williams asked whether employers had filed complaints and whether the city had numbers on people hired because of the law; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward said there had been no formal legal complaints from employers though many objections and questions, that the agency
- What do CCHR's proactive tests uncover, and why did Fair Chance testing drop in FY24? Chairperson Sandy Nurse asked what testing finds, whether it identifies repeat offenders, and why FY24 testing fell to 38 tests; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward said testing scans job sites for facial violations that can be resolved without a complaint, that repeat violations raise civil
- What are the most common outcomes of precomplaint intervention and mediation for Fair Chance employment? Chairperson Sandy Nurse asked about mediation outcomes and next steps when mediation fails; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward described CCHR's formal mediation program, used almost entirely in employment cases with both parties represented, and said failed mediations return to the Law Enforcement
- How does CCHR select and compensate its community partners on Fair Chance work? Chairperson Sandy Nurse asked about community partners, their selection, and compensation; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward described a public-artist-in-residence project on Fair Chance Housing developed with justice-impacted advisors who were reimbursed through gift cards, and said the agency
- How is CCHR conducting Fair Chance Housing outreach and intake? Chairperson Sandy Nurse turned to housing and asked about training requests and mobile intake; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward reported 16 housing trainings reaching ~176 people in FY25 and 26 reaching ~354 in FY26 to date, said most trainings are virtual by request, and described in-community
- Will CCHR pursue proactive Fair Chance Housing enforcement like it did for employment? Chairperson Sandy Nurse noted New Jersey brought over 200 housing enforcement actions in its first year and asked whether CCHR would enforce as aggressively; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward said the agency deliberately spent year one on education, has staffed a Commission-initiated team that
- Did CCHR receive the funding and staff promised to implement Fair Chance Housing? Chairperson Sandy Nurse asked whether the $1.4 million and 10 staff projected for the housing law had materialized; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward said the agency got no budget increase and ran a ~$90,000 campaign against a $600,000 fiscal-impact estimate, but had hired 15 staff-level
- How will CCHR penalize Fair Chance Housing violations without a set penalty schedule? Chairperson Sandy Nurse asked about the framework for expedited handling and penalties given no recorded FY25 housing claims; Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward said the agency has no fixed penalty schedule and sets civil penalties case-by-case based on willingness to cooperate, bad faith, and
- Public testimony opens After a short break, Chairperson Sandy Nurse read the decorum preamble and opened the hearing to public testimony, calling the first panel.
- Robert Desir (Legal Aid Society / Fair Chance for Housing Coalition) on enforcement and resources Robert Desir of the Legal Aid Society and the Fair Chance for Housing Coalition called the Fair Chance for Housing Act a significant step forward but warned that its promise depends on effective, well-resourced enforcement, urging investment in investigators, legal staff, data systems, public
- Anna Arkin-Gallagher (Brooklyn Defender Services) on employer noncompliance and slow cases Anna Arkin-Gallagher, Associate Director of the Civil Justice Practice at Brooklyn Defender Services, said the Fair Chance Act provides vital protections but is blunted by near-universal noncompliance among home health aide employers and by Commission cases that drag on for years, leaving employers
- K.B. White (Legal Action Center) on penalties and repeat offenders K.B. White, a staff attorney at the Legal Action Center, said the Fair Chance Act works but that clients should not need attorneys to make a decade-old law function, describing wins against a rideshare company and a large landlord and arguing that current penalties are treated as a cost of doing
Agenda
1 item
- T2026-1637 Oversight - Fair Chance Act Challenges and Success. Hearing Held by Committee