Jackson rushes to meet vote deadline for commercial rent regulation bill

City Council member Robert Jackson is racing against the clock to push through his proposed Small Business Survival Act, a piece of legislation that would help regulate rents on commercial real estate. With the council term ending in a month, the bill could expire before it gets to a vote. But while 30 out of 51 members of the council have voiced their official support for the legislation, it still faces opposition, the Observer reported. Council Speaker Christine Quinn alleges that the council doesn’t “have the legal authority to implement” the law and that they can’t, therefore, venture to approve it. The bill has dubbed by some as a commercial rent regulation bill — although its scope is less broad than traditional rent regulation legislation — because it relies on outside-market figures to determine fair lease rates. If passed, the law would require commercial tenants and landlords to bring in arbitrators when the two parties can’t agree on the prices and terms of a new lease.