Slogans are nice; results are better.

I am only candidate with 14 years of experience in government—a battle-tested progressive fighter ready on Day 1.

Navigating the complex world of City government requires knowing how to legislate and budget creatively and effectively, especially since there is so much in terms of either money or legal power that the City just doesn’t have. 

Amit is the only candidate in the race with 14 years of experience bringing bureaucracies to heel, actually writing dozens of laws that have truly lifted the floor for immigrants, workers, and consumers, and building enormous organizing and direct service operations that have secured the lives of individual New Yorkers, as well as the entire city’s political and economic future.

Money, Power, Respect: 2020 Census

Through leading NYC’s Census outreach effort, Amit ensured our City was counted fairly and accurately, directly contributing to Federal money, representation, and dignity for our City. He:

• Designed & implemented the City’s groundbreaking $40 million campaign - the nation’s largest publicly-funded community organizing campaign.
• Achieved a historic response rate, beating out most other major cities in the country.
• Saved our State an entire Congressional seat, when all of the experts were sure we were going to lose two.
• Secured billions of dollars of population-dependent Federal aid for healthcare, education, transportation, social services, and more.
• Leveraged the power of government to direct funding for Census outreach to community organizations and civic associates that normally lose out on these kinds of grants.

Paid Sick Leave for 3 Million New Yorkers

Amit has firsthand experience working to pass groundbreaking protections for working New Yorkers. He:

• Won Paid Sick Leave for 3 million New Yorkers.
• Passed the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, a package of first-in-the-nation protections for gig workers.
• Passed the Fair Workweek legislation, which mandates fair and transparent scheduling for retail and fast food workers.
• Secured protections for grocery store workers.
• Achieved protections for street vendors.
• Through all of these, oversaw over $150 million in claims against exploitative employers.

1,000 Immigrant Families

Both under the hostile environment of the Bush administration as well as in City government, Amit has a track record of being a champion for immigrants’ rights. He:

• Helped nearly 1,000 immigrant families obtain greencards, asylum, and citizenship under a Republican INS/CIS.
• Directly contributed to establishing IDNYC, the only municipal ID that can be used for banking, and which has over one million cardholders today.
• Fought immigration fraud against undocumented families.
• Passed the Justice for Jobseekers law, which protects immigrant job seekers from discrimination.
• Fought to count undocumented families in the 2020 Census by creating a campaign to educate New Yorkers about their census privacy.

$250 Million (and More)

In City government, Amit has spearheaded efforts to both reduce fees for small businesses and get cash in the hands of impoverished New Yorkers. He:

• Secured $250 million in tax credits and saved tax prep fees for low-income families, through NYC’s largest-ever Earned Income Tax Credit education campaign.
• Worked to expand the Fair Fares NYC program as well as pre-tax commuter benefits, saving New Yorkers millions in transportation costs.
• Fought for a ban on cigarette sales in pharmacies, saving New Yorkers money on individual and systemic healthcare costs.
• Achieved $4 million in restitution for victims of predatory auto loans and corporate fraud.
• Reduced small business fines by 50%.
• Fought the “Pink Tax” on products marketed towards women.

While serving as Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Consumer Affairs, Amit helped...

Crack Down on Predatory Used Car Lending:

• Released seminal report, “Used and Abused by the Used Car Industry,” on practices scamming mostly immigrant New Yorkers out of millions every year.
• Helped rewrite the City’s Secondhand Auto Dealer Licensing Law to crack down on predatory practices. 
• The Agency sought more than $3 million in fines and consumer restitution from predatory dealers and lenders.

Expand Transit Benefits to 450,000 New Yorkers:

• Helped write and implement the law that enabled working New Yorkers to save approximately $450 each year on MetroCards by having their cost be deducted from their paychecks prior to taxation. 
• The expansion of benefits was estimated to save $85 million in New York’s economy annually. 

Restrict the Sale of E-Cigarettes:

• Helped write and implement the law requiring retail licenses for e-cigarettes, which were being used by over one in six high schoolers in New York City.
• The new law capped the number of e-cigarette retailers in the city in an effort to reduce New York City’s number of smokers by 160,000 and improve public health.

Reduce Red Tape for Small Businesses: 

• Expanded resources to low-income, immigrant-owned small businesses in the outer boroughs of New York City
• Simplified compliance rules and provided better information to small businesses on how to meet government rules and reduce violations
• Improved small businesses’ understanding of building code safety requirements and public safety and health 
• Created more convenient ways to resolve violations and adjudicate problems related to public safety and health and building codes, reducing penalties for small business owners

Create Sick Leave Benefits for Survivors of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Human Trafficking:

• Amit helped write and implement the amendment to NYC’s Paid Sick Leave law that extended paid sick and safe leave benefits to survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and more.
• NYC’s extension was the first of its kind anywhere in the nation, and the law allows survivors to identify “family” members as either biological or “chosen.” 

Establish the Division of Paid Care, Focused on Protecting the Rights of Low-Wage Domestic and Home Care Workers:

• Helped write and implement the law establishing a first-of-its-kind division to focus on supporting New York City’s approximately 200,000 domestic and home care workers – the large majority of whom are women, immigrants, and people of color.
• Home care workers are the city’s largest low-wage occupational group and face rampant workplace violations (over 35% face minimum wage violations and nearly 85% experience overtime violations). 
• The purpose of this division is to research and document the significant labor issues within the industry, and propose policy and legislative solutions to addressing them within the bounds of municipal law.

Enhanced Employment Protections for Fast Food and Big Box Retail Workers:

• Required employers to give fair notification to the city’s 65,000 hourly fast food employees about their work schedules, providing them stable and transparent work hours and the ability to budget expenses, schedule child care, organize critical care of elderly parents, and plan for the future
• Required employers to post workplace schedules two weeks in advance to reduce the burden on working families
• Forced employers to provide overtime pay when making last-minute schedule changes

Launch the City's Groundbreaking Office of Labor Policy and Standards:

• Helped to write and implement the law to launch the City’s first-ever office to research, document, and advocate on behalf of issues faced by low-income, immigrant, and women workers. 
• OLPS is now responsible for enforcing all of NYC’s municipal labor laws, including Paid Sick & Safe Leave, the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, the Fair Workweek Law, and many others.

Investigate Illegal Gun Sales on ARMSLIST - “Craigslist for Guns” 

• Investigated the illegal trafficking and resale of guns in New York City and subpoenaed the ‘Craigslist for guns’ (ARMSLIST) to inspect if sellers were skirting city, state, and federal laws or exploiting loopholes

Pass the “Shut the Front Door!” Law

• Helped the city move closer to reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050:
  In 2015, Amit helped pass environmentally-focused legislation requiring big box stores to conserve energy in the summer by closing their doors when using air conditioning, effectively helping business save money on utility bills and reduce their overall energy consumption

Protect Nail Salon Workers from Dangerous Labor Abuses:

• Provided nail salon workers exposed to toxic chemicals in the workplace information about their rights and protections from predatory workplace practices, eligibility for training and job connection programs, and business support services  
• Tested nail salon products for toxic exposure and potential harm and issued a letter to approximately 3,000 nail salons notifying them about their responsibilities to vulnerable employees

Protect New Yorkers from Immigration Service Fraud:

• Provided information to immigrant communities in Queens on the uptick in immigration scams related to green cards, citizenship, and work authorization schemes, informing them of free, trusted alternatives and resources
• Provided consumer protection tips for women and elderly immigrants in multiple languages 

Shield Immigrant Job-Seekers from Predatory Employment Agencies:

• Provided information to job-seekers on how to avoid common scams by unscrupulous agencies that prey on low-income and immigrant applicants

Secure $1 Million in Restitution for Victims of Predatory Consumer Debt Collection and Payday Loans:

• Won nearly $1 million -- the highest amount of restitution from settlement in the city’s history -- for more than 4,600 New Yorkers that were the victims of payday loans and predatory debt collection
• Fined a debt collection company $350,000 for payday loans with nearly 800% annual percentage rates