The New York City Council voted Thursday, October 22, to pass Romanch’s Law, banning horse-drawn carriages across the five boroughs beginning in June 2028, and the Transport Workers Union pledged to sue the city to block it, the New York Post reported. The measure passed with a veto-proof majority: 40 to 7, with two abstentions, according to the Council’s legislative record. It went to the mayor the same day, and the mayor’s office held a public hearing on it Nov. 4; as of Nov. 11, it awaited Mamdani’s signature.

The union, which represents roughly 200 carriage drivers and owners, plans to ask a court for a temporary restraining order, the New York Post reported. A TWU representative told the Post the lawsuit will be filed when Mayor Zohran Mamdani signs the bill into law.

The union laid out its legal argument the day before the vote. In an October 21 letter to city Corporation Counsel Steve Banks, attorneys Arthur Schwartz and Benjamin Kallos called the legislation “a mess of Federal and State constitutional violations,” the New York Daily News reported. “If it is enacted as it now stands,” they wrote, “we will seek a [temporary restraining order] the minute the ink dries.” The letter was also sent to Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin.