Backers of School ‘Buffer Zone’ Bill That Mamdani Vetoed Announce a New Version That Excludes College Campuses
20th May 2026
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The fight over “buffer zone” legislation in New York City entered a new phase on Wednesday, weeks after Mayor Zohran Mamdani vetoed a bill allowing police to limit protests around “educational facilities.”
Mamdani and other detractors of the initial, highly contested bill said that it would chill free speech, particularly affecting pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. Its proponents said they would try to flip enough members of the City Council to override Mamdani’s veto.
Now, they may have reached a compromise: On Wednesday, City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced a revised version of the bill that excludes colleges and universities from the educational facilities subject to protest limits.
In an interview, Council Member Eric Dinowitz, who introduced the legislation Mamdani vetoed, said the new bill’s language was “slightly tweaked” so it could get “more broad support” from city lawmakers.
“There were some members who were uncomfortable with the ‘educational facility’ piece, so we targeted it towards early childhood centers, pre-K and K-to-12 schools,” Dinowitz said about the new version, called the Schools Safe Access bill.