Waived City Agencies

Waived Agencies

Per LL 83 “§ 3303. Advertising on ethnic and community media. a. Each mayoral agency shall seek to direct at least 50 percent of its total spending on advertising to ethnic and community media outlets, provided that a mayoral agency may apply to the executive director for an annual waiver of this goal. Any such application shall provide a particularized explanation regarding the public purpose that would be served by the issuance of a waiver. If a waiver is granted by the executive director, it shall be posted on a website managed or operated by the city together with the explanation for the waiver.”

Read more about Local Law 83 of 2021 here.

There are two types of waivers City agencies can be granted – Legal Mandate and Full Agency waiver. Below are the definitions.

Full Agency Waiver

City agencies are granted a full agency waiver on an annual basis at the end of each fiscal year by the Executive Director of MOECM. This type of waiver is granted to an agency if:

• An agency spends a negligible amount on advertising across all media types ($5,000 or less for the full fiscal year).
• An agency has no advertising budget and/or does not advertise.

Legal Mandate Waiver

City agencies can request a legal mandate waiver on a quarterly basis (during the quarterly data collection process). The Executive Director of MOECM grants the waiver at the end of the fiscal year. This type of waiver is granted to an agency if:

• A significant majority of the agency’s advertising spending annually is pursuant to court orders or other legal mandates, or
• If the requirements of LL 83 conflict with an agency’s requirements to comply with legal and statutory notices that call for advertisement placement in a mainstream media outlet pursuant to other applicable law, such notices are waived from the requirements of the LL 83.