Senate Bill S8655 and Allah School in Mecca

     In my recent article New Executive Order will require Allah School in Mecca to be inventoried and reviewed by July 1, 2026 I shared about Executive Order 04 and Executive Order 5 that NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed into law on January 1st, 2026. I also explained how these laws would affect the Allah School in Mecca [2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd] -an undeveloped city-owned parcel that has served as our national headquarters.

     Executive Order 04 [LEVERAGING CITY-OWNED LAND TO ACCELERATE HOUSING] was created due to the housing shortage in New York City. Executive Order 04 created a fast-track process to identify and utilize city-owned land for housing development (AKA: economic development). For that purpose, Mayor Mamdani established an interagency Land Inventory Fast Track Task Force (the “LIFT Task Force”). According to Executive Order 04, "The LIFT Task Force shall consist of representatives from Mayoral agencies offices, and affiliated non-profit corporations, including the Department of Citywide Administrative Services [NYC DCAS], the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of City Planning, the Department of Buildings, the Office of Management and Budget, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and representatives from other agencies, offices or entities affiliated with the City designated by the Chair." This LIFT Task Force will also seek participation and cooperation of additional public and other entities as the Task Force Chair deems appropriate. Some of those additional entities that were identified are the New York Public Library, the Queens Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Housing Authority, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Empire State Development Corporation. I spoke with the NYC DCAS and they confirmed that city-owned parcels, including 2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd, will be reviewed and inventoried no later than July 1, 2026 as specified in Executive Order 04. Executive Order 5 created the SPEED Task Force. The SPEED Task Force is tasked with identifying and developing city department policies, procedures, and processes for Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development [SPEED] in NYC. According to Executive Order 5, these recommendations will be shared with Mayor Mamdani no later than April 11, 2026. 

     Following the publishing of my article it was shared on Facebook that on January 7th, 2026, NYS Senate Bill S8655 was introduced by Senator Cordell Cleare of the 30th Senate District. This Senate Bill 'Authorizes the conveyance of certain property by the city of New York to The Allah Youth Center in Mecca Inc.' After seeing this Facebook post I quickly learned that many of us did not understand the legislative process, assuming that this introduced senate bill addresses the active NYC Executive Orders 04 and 5 that I highlighted. Senate Bill S8655 does not, and this is why.

An introduced senate (or assembly) bill is only a proposal that has not been considered, let alone passed, in the state legislature and signed into law by a governor. An Executive Order that is signed into law by a Mayor or City Executive IS the law. You can only stop an Executive Order by 1.) signing into law a new Executive Order that overturns it, 2.) a Court Order that declares that the bill is unconstitutional, 3.) a City Council law that contradicts it, or 4.) the State (New York in this case) or the Federal government passes a law that contradicts the bill. None of these actions have occurred to override Mayor Mamdani’s Executive Orders 04 and 5.  

HOW DOES A BILL BECOME A LAW?

   When a senate bill is sponsored and introduced, an identical assembly bill must also be sponsored and introduced. As you can see below, Senate Bill S8655 has only been sponsored and introduced by Senator Cleare and is now in the Cities 1 Committee. You can also see that an identical assembly bill has not yet been sponsored or introduced by an Assemblymember.

     If an identical assembly bill is sponsored and introduced by an Assemblymember, it will then go to an Assembly Committee. If an Assemblymember does not sponsor and introduce an identical assembly bill, or refuses to take up Senate Bill S8655, this bill will die at the end of the two-year legislative term. 

     If an identical bill is sponsored and introduced by an Assemblymember, both the senate and assembly bill will move to the floor of both the Senate and the Assembly. Once on the floor, it is placed on the legislative calendar, allowing for debate, potential amendments, and a final vote by the full house. The full house consists of 63 State Senators and 150 State Assemblymembers (213 representatives) across the state of New York. For more information about how the legislative process works, you can check out this information: How A Bill Becomes Law in NYS.

It is important to understand that passing a senate AND assembly bill is a process that takes time. That process does not supersede or override active Executive Orders that were signed into law within a municipality. In other words, Senate Bill S8655 does not stop the July 1st, 2026 city-owned parcel review and inventory specified in Executive Order 04 or the SPEED Task Force recommendations that will be shared with Mayor Mamdani by April 11, 2026. It is equally important to understand that the sponsoring of a senate bill, and potentially an assembly bill, broadens the discussion about who we are as the Five Percent beyond the municipal limits of NYC and the Mamdani Administration. This legislative process will call upon 213 statewide representatives to debate, potentially amend, and ultimately vote on the transferring NYC property to The Allah Youth Center in Mecca Inc. While introducing Senate Bill S8655 can be a powerful opportunity to move in a direction to secure the future of Allah School, it does not address the immediate need to engage the Mamdani Administration concerning Executive Orders 04 and 5. Equally important, it does not address the ongoing negative press, lack of revenue, disorganization, and estranged community partnership obstacles that we consistently deal with. In my previous article I discussed how unfavorable we appear in a quick Google or YouTube search, if surrounding Harlem anchor institutions were contacted about us, or if some city officials wanted to pop-up at the Allah School on a random Tuesday just to check out what is going on. Senate Bill S8655 now opens up the same assessment of us from Senators with partisan politics across NYS -many whose only point of reference for the Five Percent are correctional facilities, crime, juvenile delinquency, and gang affiliation in their legislative jurisdictions. The only way to combat these founded and unfounded assessments are to consistently show a better example. 

     Now that a senate bill exists, what can we do about it? In addition to monitoring this bill on the Senate Bill Search website to see its progress, to show support for Senate Bill S8655, you can create an account on this website and select ✔ Aye where it asks, DO YOU SUPPORT THIS BILL? You will find this on the right side of the webpage as shown below:

     Direct support for Senate Bill S8655 can also be shown by contacting the Cities 1 Committee Chair Senator Luis R. Sepulveda and other Committee members to express your support of this bill. You can also contact state legislators by phone, [registered] postage mail or email to express support of Senate Bill S8655. These efforts are even more powerful as an organized Lobby Committee that has crafted clear, concise, uniform talking points and literature about supporting Senate Bill S8655. This advocacy work can then be leveraged in our engagement with the Mamdani Administration to garner municipal support. ALL OF THIS effort hinges upon our public image and the actual work that we are doing as Five Percenters. If these same public officials looked us up, what would they see on our social media? If they did a background check, what would they see regarding criminal history, employment, education, etc.? Will the name(s) that we use to engage these public officials be interpreted as "aliases" or our legal identification and why? When someone sees us, online or offline, do our words and activities reasonably represent the provisions of Senate Bill S8655 which state that we provide "educational, social, recreational and developmental community-based services to the Harlem community in Manhattan"? ALL OF THIS means something. These public images and our actual work will contribute to how we are collectively perceived, as a culture and a nation of people, seeking the transferred ownership of prime NYC real estate for $0. If we took our public image for granted before, as if our ways and actions have ZERO impact on what happens in the public domain, we will now see this in real time. While it is my hope that public officials, both city and statewide, will have the capacity and diligence to cut through the noise to see the good that we do as the Five Percent, it is reasonable to say that many will not. 

Peace,

Saladin #AtlantisBuild