The additions arrive in waves, but they never stop. The busiest year was 2017 (608 new standing obligations) and the quietest was pandemic-year 2020 (267). The 2025 total of 534 was the highest since 2019, and because these obligations recur, each year's wave stays on agency dockets for good.
Reports and data mandates are a steady half of the flow. Reports plus data publications, notices, and postings accounted for 267 of 2025's 534 additions, the pattern behind the 871 reports agencies now owe at least once a year.
What counts as recurring: obligations the tracker tags with an ongoing recurrence (a standing duty to enforce, operate, or maintain something) or a fixed cadence (weekly through every-10-years). One-time obligations and the few tagged as-needed or undated are excluded. Types group the tracker's deliverable tags: "Data, notices & postings" combines database or data publication with notice or posting; "Programs, services & outreach" combines program or service with outreach or education; "Enforcement, monitoring & other duties" holds everything else (enforcement or inspection, monitoring or testing, rulemaking, staffing, plans, training, studies, signage, other).
2026 is excluded as a partial year: laws enacted January through July 2026 have added another 327 recurring obligations not shown above. Counts are as enacted; the tracker does not net out obligations later repealed or superseded.
Source: Author's analysis of NYC Council Legistar law text via the NYCuriosity Legislation Implementation Tracker (data as of August 2026).