Food cart ratings, fast-food worker protections coming in new laws

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to sign into law 28 pieces of legislation Tuesday.

One will require street-food vendors to receive letter grades like restaurants, and another ensures new protections for fast-food workers.

New York City lawmakers have passed a bill to create a letter grading system for food trucks and carts after state officials uncovered a significant number of violations.

The food cart law is expected to take effect in about nine months. It's been talked about for years, and City Council member Karen Koslowtiz made the move to sponsor the bill to hold food carts to the same standards as restaurants.

She said that in order for it to be effective, she hopes the health department -- which oversees letter grades -- would hire more inspectors.

The fast food bill requires two weeks advance notice of work schedules, more money for last-minute schedule changes, and extra pay for opening and closing a business in some circumstances.

New regulations also prohibit on-call scheduling for retail employees, and require fast-food employers to offer shifts to current employees before hiring new workers.

Other provisions in laws to be signed today:

-- Intro. 848 sends voters their voter histories;

-- Intro. 951-A requires all public phone lines be able to dial 911 directly;

-- Intro. 1028-B creates a Sexual Health Education Task Force;

-- Intro. 1346-A requires storm water management and control of discharges into storm sewers;

-- Intro. 1456-A requires mobile vendor letter grades;

-- Intro. 722-A increases the minimum apartment temperature that must be maintained by a landlord during nighttime hours;

-- Intro. 823-A requires the city to issue a report regarding illegal conversions of dwelling units;

-- Intro. 1218-A relates to illegal conversions; Intro. 1586 relates to the preservation of certain hotels;

-- Intro. 518-A requires secondhand automobile dealers to disclose whether automobiles have been recalled by the automobiles' manufacturers;

-- Intro. 1117-A expands current delivery cyclist protections to all commercial cyclists;

-- Intro. 1177-A requires feasibility of interval crossing systems at high-crash intersections;

-- Intro. 1285-A requires a study on locations with significant pedestrian traffic;

-- Intro. 1305-A relates to notice parking restrictions related to removal of trees;

-- Intro. 282-A relates to community involvement in decisions of the BSA;

-- Intro. 418-A relates to written responses by the BSA;

-- Intro. 514-A relates to the expiration of variances granted by the BSA;

-- Intro. 1200-A relates to proof of service of certain required mailings for applications the BSA;

-- Intro. 1390-A requires Dept. of City Planning to designate a BSA coordinator;

-- Intro. 1391-A relates to appraisals regarding BSA applications;

-- Intro. 1392-A relates to applications for variances and special permits before the BSA;

-- Intro. 1393-A requires BSA to report on variances and special permits;

-- Intro. 1394-A relates to adding zoning variance and special permit information on a map on a city website.