Mamdani administration continued to miss NYC's charter-mandated racial equity plan deadline, judge found

On August 25, 2026, New York Supreme Court Justice Phaedra F. Perry-Bond ruled that the City of New York violated the law by failing to release a final citywide racial equity plan required under a 2022 voter-approved City Charter amendment, finding the Mamdani administration independently in violation for continuing to miss the deadline it inherited from the Adams administration.

The Charter amendment, approved by New York City voters in 2022 following the 2020 racial-justice protests, required the city to publish a preliminary racial equity plan by January 16, 2024 and a final plan months later, addressing racial disparities in education, health, pay, and other areas of city life. The Adams administration missed both deadlines. The Commission on Racial Equity, the charter-mandated watchdog body also created by the 2022 reforms, sued in August 2025 to compel release after determining the plan had in fact been completed but was being withheld; the Adams administration's law department had separately denied CORE's request to retain outside counsel to pursue the matter.

Mamdani took office in January 2026 and released the city's first-ever draft racial equity plan in April, within his first 100 days, but the administration has still not issued a final plan; a spokesperson said it is still incorporating feedback. Perry-Bond's ruling found the continued delay under Mamdani independently violated the Charter, granted CORE the outside-counsel authority the city had previously denied, and preserved CORE's ability to sue again over any future delay. The Charter itself imposes no penalty for missing the deadline.