Philadelphia City Council

The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughout the city.

The Council serves as a check against the Mayor of Philadelphia in a mayor-council system of government. Council can override mayoral vetoes with a two-thirds vote. Among other responsibilities, the Council approves the city budget proposed by the Mayor. Councilmembers are elected for four-year terms with no limits on the number of terms they may serve.

The head of the City Council is the Council President. The current Council President, Democrat Kenyatta Johnson, assumed office in January 2024. All proposed legislation is introduced by a councilmember and then the Council President refers proposed legislation to the appropriate committee.

Democrat Katherine Gilmore Richardson has headed the Democratic majority in the chamber as Majority Leader since January 2024. Working Families Party member Kendra Brooks is the Minority Leader, representing the Council's minority caucus since January 2024. The Working Families Party is the minority caucus with two seats, ahead of the Republican Party's one seat held by Brian J. O'Neill.

While William Penn's original 1691 charter for the city of Philadelphia included a "common council" with appointed members, no records exist of this body ever having been convened. Its successor, the Proprietor's Charter of 1701, constituted the city as a municipal corporation with a non-elected council made up of major city officials who selected their own successors. The colonial city government was abolished during the American Revolution and replaced in 1789 with an elected council including fifteen aldermen and thirty common councillors; these then elected a mayor and recorder who also were members of the council. In 1796, a bicameral city council was created including a 20-member Common Council elected annually and 12-member Select Council elected every three years; the sizes of both bodies increased with the population of the city, peaking at 149 members of Common Council and 41 in Select Council, the largest municipal legislature in the US. It was replaced with a single 21-member chamber in 1919, which remained in effect until the adoption of a Home Rule charter in 1951.

The 1951 Home Rule Charter established the council as the legislative arm of Philadelphia municipal government, consisting of seventeen members. Ten council members are elected by district and seven from the city at large. At-large council members are elected using limited voting with limited nomination in which voters may only select five candidates on the ballot, and which guarantees that two minority-party or independent candidates are elected. Each is elected for a term of four years with no limit on the number of terms that may be served.

The members of City Council elect from among themselves a president, who serves as the regular chairperson of council meetings. In consultation with the majority of council members, the President appoints members to the various standing committees of the council. The president is also responsible for selecting and overseeing most Council employees.

Every proposed ordinance is in the form of a bill introduced by a Council member. Before a bill can be enacted, it must be referred by the president of the council to an appropriate standing committee, considered at a public hearing and public meeting, reported out by the committee, printed as reported by the committee, distributed to the members of the council, and made available to the public. Passage of a bill requires the favorable vote of a majority of all members. A bill becomes law upon the approval of the mayor. If the mayor vetoes a bill, the council may override the veto by a two-thirds vote.