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Ordinance directing the Allegheny County Board of Elections to place before the qualified voters of the City of Pittsburgh at the 2026 May Primary Election a referendum question, “Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter, Article Three, Legislative Branch, be amended by changing the budget approval rules to ensure timely passage at the end of legislative sessions?”
(Public Hearing Scheduled for 1/27/26)
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The Council of the City of Pittsburgh hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The Allegheny County Board of Elections is hereby directed to place before the qualified voters of the City of Pittsburgh at the 2025 May Primary Election a referendum question:
"Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter, Article Three, Legislative Branch, be amended by changing the budget approval rules to ensure timely passage at the end of legislative sessions?”
§ 321 - Submission of Legislation to Mayor and Veto Power.
Council shall submit all proposed legislation to the mayor for approval prior to its effective date. The mayor shall sign the legislation within ten days if approved, but if not, shall return it to council stating objections. Council, at its next meeting, shall reconsider any legislation disapproved by the mayor and may pass it in spite of the mayor’s disapproval by a two-thirds vote of all the members. If the mayor fails to sign or return legislation to council with reasons for disapproval, it shall become law as of its effective date, ten days after submission to the mayor. The mayor may disapprove any item in the operating budget or capital budget, subject to reconsideration by council in the same manner as other legislation. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, if the mayor fails to approve or disapprove the annual operating and/or capital budgets passed finally by Council and submitted to the mayor for approval prior to the end of Council’s two-year legislative session, they shall take effect the first day of the fiscal or calendar year, as the case may be, for the year for which they have been enacted.