Reading the bars: each bar counts distinct powers, not how often an agency uses them. A rulemaking power an agency exercises constantly and one it has never used each count once.

Power types: the legend lists the full taxonomy of what a law can hand an agency, from rulemaking and enforcement to designations and data publication. The powers table shows the exact type for every record.

Method: powers are extracted from enacted local law text on NYC Legistar using Claude, with every quoted passage mechanically checked against the source text. Agency names are normalized with the NYC Agencies and Governance Organizations dataset. Powers whose holding entity could not be matched to a known agency (for example "an agency designated by the mayor") are excluded from this chart but appear in the table.