Philadelphia City Council, September 28th 2023

Thursday, September 28th
At Thursday's session of the Council, the legislative body voted (13-1) to override the Mayor's veto of Bill 230410 which seeks to prohibit supervised drug consumption sites. The Kenney Administration has historically voted to endorse supervised drug consumption sites as a strategy to prevent overdose deaths. The Council was met with fierce opposition as proponents of supervised drug injection sites claim the sites are a way to prevent drug-related deaths, which reached a high in 2021 with 1,276 people in the city fatally overdosed. Councilmember Lozada, who drafted the legislation, stated that the bill only applies to 9 of the 10 councilmanic districts and that the bill does not permanently ban supervised drug consumption sites, but is intended to guarantee community input in any effort to open one.

Introductions: 

• Councilmember Lozada introduced resolutions 230663 that recognizes the month of September 2023 as "National Recovery Month" in Philadelphia and 230662 that
  authorizes the Council Committee on Children and Youth to hold public hearings examining the response to human trafficking in the City of Philadelphia.

• Councilmember Johnson introduced a resolution urging Governor Josh Shapiro to establish an Office of Gun Violence Prevention in Pennsylvania.

• Councilmember Harrity introduced an ordinance amending Chapter 6-400 of The Philadelphia Code, to end the unlawful deportation of noncitizen patients by hospitals to the patients' countries of origin without their consent.

• Councilmember Phillips introduced two ordinances that provide remedies for encroaching trees, under certain terms and conditions; and to modify the fees associated with retaining walls.