Committee of the Whole - Budget Hearing: Police [HYBRID]

Philadelphia City Council

Criminal Justice

Finance

Politics

Tuesday, April 8, 2025
10:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. EDT

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1400 John F Kennedy Blvd Philadelphia 19107 (Directions)

In-person at City Hall and remote via live stream, Room 400

Remote Event Link

This special assignment is part of Philly Documenters FY26 Budget coverage. This year we are partnering with the People’s Budget Office to share all of the amazing work by Philly Docs. Our goals are to share what we learn, uplift your voices, and collectively engage with the budget process. The budget hearings take place during the Committee of the Whole meetings and you can stay updated on the hearing schedule here: Legistar: https://phila.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx FY26 Budget Center: https://phlcouncil.com/budget2026/

For this special assignment, we are looking for high-level notes of these longer hearings. We’re using a different document template to help guide Documenters in their note taking.

IMPORTANT: Any Documenter assigned to these special assignments should carefully read through the template to review the instructions and coverage sections before the assignment starts. For assigning, we’ll keep an eye out for Docs who attended the Budget Training 101 in January.

Capture to the best of your ability the main parts of the hearing starting on page two, including who the panelists are and some of the standout questions that Councilmembers ask them. Then take your time after the hearing to write your headlines, quotes, and observations – these are the sections you would share with your neighbor, friend, or co-conspirator.

These meetings could run between 2.5.-3 hours. We encourage Documenters to attend in-person to get more out of the experience.

In part of our partnership with the People’s Budget Office, we will be sharing recaps of the meeting using Documenters’ notes. You can follow PBO (peoplesbudget4philly) and Philly Documenters (@phldocumenters) on Instagram.

Since this is a new type of assignment, leaving feedback about your experience attending and documenting these hearings is appreciated, so we can enhance the process as we go. Reach out to documenters@resolvephilly.org with any questions.

You can view remotely on Xfinity Channel 64, Fios Channel 40 or http://phlcouncil.com/watch-city-council/

Check the source website for additional information

Assignment

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Agency Information

Philadelphia City Council

phlcouncil.com

@https://twitter.com/PHLCouncil

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Conducts hearings and public meetings on proposed bills and issues concerning the City of Philadelphia.

Council is the legislative arm of Philadelphia municipal government. Ten Councilmembers are elected by district and seven from the City-at-large, for a total of seventeen members. Under the rules of Council, regular public sessions of Council are held weekly, usually on Thursday morning at 10:00 AM., in Room 400, City Hall.

Every proposed ordinance is in the form of a bill introduced by a Councilmember. Before a bill can be enacted by Council, it must be:

Referred by the President of Council to an appropriate standing committee of Council,
Considered at a public hearing and public meeting, reported out by the committee,
Printed as reported by the committee,
Distributed to the members of Council,
And made available to the public.

Passage of a bill requires the favorable vote of a majority of all members of Council. A bill becomes law upon the approval of the Mayor. If the Mayor vetoes a bill, Council may override the veto by a two-thirds vote.

The functions of City Council influence a wide range of public affairs in Philadelphia and directly impact the quality of life for its citizenry.