The DEA issued a Letter of Opposition to “Congestion Pricing” in 2022, but we recently updated our Memo of Opposition and sent it to the Governor, per the request of the Police Conference of New York. The letter concludes with the request for exemption of all New York law enforcement to congestion pricing fines. Read the text of the full letter on the pdf link below:
2024 Memo of Opposition Congestion Pricing
However, the NYC Congestion Pricing Tax (CPT) took effect January 5, 2025, for all motor vehicle traffic that enters the Central Business District (CBD), which is in Manhattan, south of 61st Street. The CPT for passenger vehicles will be $9.00 per day upon entering the CBD during daytime hours (0500 to 2100; 0900 to 2100) and $2.25 per day upon entering the CBD during overnight hours (2100 to 0500; 2100 to 0900). There will be some limited exemptions for emergency vehicles and certain Departmental vehicles; and there will be a $3.00 per-trip credit for any vehicle that enters the CBD using the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel; but at this time, there is no pre-trip credit for vehicles that use the George Washington Bridge or the Tappen Zee Bridge. Despite a brief pause in this program announced in June 2024 by Gov. Hochul prior to its initially planned rollout, the plan to begin the CPT was reactivated in November 2024.
During the entirety of the rollout of the CPT, the DEA has participated in a number of efforts to stop this program from taking effect. The Union, along with the NYC Municipal Labor Committee (MLC), joined other plaintiffs in the lawsuit initiated by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to stop, or at the very least minimize, the negative impact the CPT will have on public sector workers. However, the Court has since sided with the State, the City, and the MTA by permitting the CPT to be implemented. The DEA has met with the Governor’s Office, the head of the MTA, and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to discuss the CPT and has submitted a Memorandum in Opposition seeking, amongst other things, an exemption for MOS. However, to date, these efforts have proven unsuccessful.
The DEA has also communicated with the City, the NYPD, and the NYC Office of Labor Relations (OLR) regarding the practical impact the CPT will have on the monetary benefits of MOS who are assigned to commands, units, and posts within the CBD. Such discussions are still ongoing, given that such topic is considered a mid-term bargaining demand from the Union. Further, the DEA, along with the other NYPD police unions, continue their respective and collective lobbying efforts to either overturn the CPT or to create specific exemptions for public sector workers who cannot work from home, who must report to work on a daily basis, and who are assigned to commands, units, and posts within the CBD.
Finally, the DEA is closely monitoring the recent decision by U.S. District Judge Leo M. Gordon (an appointee of President George W. Bush) in a case initiated by the State of New Jersey on how the CPT will adversely affect the traffic and congestion outside of the City, and specifically geographic areas where DEA members reside in the northern and western suburbs of the City. In his December 30, 2024 decision, USDJ Gordon determined that the MTA and the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) did not provide sufficient detail regarding the original environmental impact the CPT would have on these surrounding communities and therefore ordered those parties to provide more specifics. A hearing in that case is scheduled for January 3, 2025, before the U.S. Court of International Trade. A further update on this matter will be provided once the Court issues its ruling after said hearing.
