In a debate over city lawmakers being undercut, state lawmakers are proceeding with their own plan to give letter grades to food carts even though the City Council already passed that legislation Wednesday. State House Reporter Zack Fink explains the story.

Like restaurants, which are required to show a letter grade for their level of cleanliness, lawmakers at the city and state level want to make sure that street food vendors get the same treatment.

Wednesday, the City Council passed a bill that would require the health department to issue letter grades to street vendors.

"I think this is a city issue, I think it is being handled by a city agency, and I think we as the council have jurisdiction over city agencies and what they do," Queens City Council member Karen Koslowitz said.

But Mayor Bill de Blasio has also quietly pushed state lawmakers to take similar action, and this week the State Senate passed a bill that would require letter grades, and would supersede the council's efforts.

"The city corporations counsel came to us and said that the city doesn't have the authority to…track these street vendors; only the state has that authority," State Sen. Jose Peralta said. "So they wanted us to include that tracking system in the bill."

The State Assembly is now considering the bill.

"Letting people know if people serve food, that they are serving you healthy food, or that the situation they are using to serve food is sanitary, I think, is always a good thing," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said.

A de Blasio spokesperson said City Hall supports increased transparency around mobile food vending inspections.

Supporters of the state legislation said they believe it "compliments" the council's bill, but others see this as an example of the mayor undercutting the council and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, with whom he has worked very closely until just recently.

The push from the state echoes another battle: the legislature's move to suspend the city's fee on plastic and paper bags. People close to Mark-Viverito said she felt her authority had been undermined.

The same could potentially now be said about street vendors. "I mean, people in Buffalo aren't that into street vendors," Koslowitz said.

Some insiders believe this is an attempt by Peralta to change the conversation because he and several other lawmakers have faced scrutiny for receiving state stipends for job titles they do not hold.