After Nine Hour Hearing, Carriage Horse Ban Shows Signs of Passing

The first committee hearing on whether to ban Central Park horse carriages drew strong advocates on both sides. However, it seemed the cards were in the favor for animal activists, with many Council Members and the Council Speaker already supporting the bill.

“Romanch’s Law,” the Intro. 943 bill named after a teen who tragically died after falling from a horse carriage June 17, faced its first hearing July 15, held at City Hall by the NY City Council Health Committee. Over a long nine hours, lawmakers, advocates, and workers alike came to plead their case—with animal activists decrying the industry’s “abusive” practices and carriage workers fighting to keep their horses.

If passed, the bill would order the ‘winding down’ of the horse carriage industry, immediately halting the issuance of new medallions and prohibiting the operation of the carriages starting June 1, 2028. Concerns have been raised over the bill’s handling of the horses after seizing them from their owners, as well as the work livelihoods of the carriage owners/workers. For the carriage workers, some of which operate their own horse while others work as independent contractors, the bill currently promises a workforce development program.

“Workforce development is a lovely word, but I don’t know what it is,” Christina Hansen, spokesperson for the carriage workers, said at the hearing. TWU panelists were invited to make their case three hours after the hearing’s start, after many member of the public had already left, and those remaining were fatigued and unfocused. Hansen went on to say she is a “horse person” and wants to work in a horse-related industry.

This is not the first time a ban bill has appeared in City Council, but previous bills died in committee. Romanch’s Law differs in its significant support from city council lawmakers, with over 26 council members already co-sponsoring the bill introduced by Manhattan CM Christopher Marte. Bills in city council only require 26 to pass. Mayor Zohran Mamdani voiced his own support for the bill, as long as the workers are guaranteed protections, at a July 14 press conference.

The bill on the eve of the hearing, also received the powerful support of Speaker Menin, who described the importance of the bill to prevent further accidents.

“Passing the law is one way to save justice for [Romanch] and his family, to keep his blessed memory alive, and to carry his brave and compassionate spirit forward,” Menin said at the hearing.

Before even entering City Hall’s chambers, the two sides began to put up a fight. On the side of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents the carriage workers alongside NYC’s subway and bus drivers, shouts of “Save the horses, save the park” erupted on the streets. The chant was met by one heckler’s yells of “Horse killer!”

Marte and Menin held their own rally on the steps of city hall prior to the hearing’s start, inviting actress Edie Falco and the family of Romanch Mahajan to speak. The aunt and uncle of the teen tearfully explained how if a previous version of the bill to ban carriage horses starting June 1, 2026, had passed, their nephew would still be here.

In the hearing, members of the Mahajan family joined through Zoom to plead for the passing of the bill, to prevent further deaths.

”We close our eyes and we hear that carriage ride,” Mahajan’s father said during the hearing. “The screams, helplessness, and the sound of Romanch hitting the road. I want you to imagine what it is like to watch your son die in front of you.”

”Let our son be the last victim of this industry,” Mahajan’s father added.

Marte said the union’s reasons of lack of training and enforcement are not sufficient to explain away the accidents caused by horse carriages.

“We’ll be told that the issue is just a lack of government oversight, and we’ll be threatened that if we pass this bill, all the horses will be sent to the slaughter,” Marte said at the hearing. “However, these excuses don’t hold.”

The hearing, presided over by Committee Chair Lynn Schulman, was contentious not only between the sides of the public, but also council members. Queens CM James Gennaro, who had proposed his own regulatory bill of the horses, was vocal in his questioning of anti-carriage advocates throughout the day and called out Speaker Menin.

At one point, Gennaro agreed with the testimony of Sharase DeBouse, political director for TWU, who called the proceedings a “kangaroo court.”

“When a speaker comes out and goes to the New York Times, then makes a video on the same day, and comes out the next day, talks with all the advocates, opens up the hearing and says, ‘This is happening, we just have to figure out how to get it done.’” Gennaro said at the hearing. “I’m the longest serving council member. This is not how the council is supposed to work.”

On the other side of the aisle, animal activist advocates described how the industry is no longer compatible with the city of New York, citing safety and animal abuse concerns.

“You cannot regulate the abuse and danger of the horse-drawn carriage industry,” Ashley Byrne, outreach director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said at the hearing. “It is cruel and reckless to force a horse, to live and work in the noise, traffic, and chaos of New York City. The carriage operators spite and flout the most mild and common sense rules with little to no enforcement from the city as you heard today.”

During the administration’s testimony, which featured representatives from the NYC Department of Health and NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Chair Schulman noted her disappointment for a lack of data and numbers the panelists could provide, including number of horse incidents and violations, despite preliminary data questions having been sent to the department.

On July 16, the day after the hearing, carriage drivers gathered at the West 52 Street stable in order to provide information that did not make it into their testimonies, and reiterate the emotional and economical costs which they would face with the passing of the bill.

Drivers mentioned that many council members were sporadically leaving the hearing for breaks without hearing the drivers’ testimonies, and that some panelists’ mics were cut off before their allotted response time.

Jill, driver of the woman-run company Little Red Carriage, told Straus News, “I had my two minutes of testimony written out--it was exactly two minutes--and when I got up there, I was so angry by speaking to an empty room with no council members that I used the very beginning to point that out and say, ‘It seems like the fix is in.’”

She added, “When I got to the very last sentence of my testimony, they walked over and shut my mic, and I was the only person that had their mic shut off... who was not being disruptive or anything like that.”

Hansen expressed frustrations with Corinne Schiff, representative for NYC Health Department, in hesitating to answer statistical questions about the horses and drivers, despite having provided the Mayor’s Office with those same responses prior to the hearing.

“She was told that the Health Department had to testify in favor of a ban but all the data she has says we shouldn’t be banned,” said Hansen.

Hansen added, “It felt very much like the hearing was not designed for actual fact-finding–it was designed to put on a show.”

NY City Council’s X page has been exclusively posting about the animal activists’ rally, slogans, and agenda. Little to no coverage includes the opposing side of the TWU before and during the hearing.

As it stands, public support is fairly divided, with an edge towards banning the carriage horses. One poll, conducted June 30 to July 4, shows 68% support for the bill. On the reverse side, an earlier poll conducted by the TWU in October 2025, showed 57% support for continuation of the horse carriage industry. It will now be up to the City Council to set a vote for the bill and determine whether or not horse carriages will remain a part of the park.