New York State Legislature

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New York State Legislature
General Information
Type:	State legislature
Term limits:	None
2012 session start:	January 4, 2012
Website:	Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:	Robert Duffy (D)
House Speaker:	Sheldon Silver (D)
Majority Leader:	Dean Skelos (R) (Senate), Ronald Canestrari (D) (Assembly)
Minority leader:	John Sampson (D) (Senate), Brian Kolb (R) (Assembly)
Structure
Members:	62 (Senate), 150 (Assembly)
Length of term:	2 years (Senate), 2 years (House)
Authority:	Art III, Sec. 3, New York Constitution
Salary:	$79,500/year + per diem
Last Election:	November 2, 2010 62 seats (Senate) 150 seats (House)
Next election:	November 4, 2012 62 seats (Senate) 150 seats (House)
Redistricting:	New York Legislature has control

The New York Legislature is the state legislature of New York. It is a bicameral legislature, consisting of the lower New York State Assembly and the upper New York State Senate. The Legislature is not perceived well by the public ^[1]. Past corruption was sometimes referred to in colorful terms like the "Black Horse Cavalry."

The legislature is seated at the New York State Capitol in Albany.

Sessions

Article III of the New York Constitution outlines the legislative power for New York's government. Article III does not limit when the Legislature can convene in regular session. However, Section 18 of Article III does contain provisions related to special sessions of the Legislature. Section 18 states that a special session can be called by a petition of request from two-thirds of both legislative houses.

2012

See also: Dates of 2012 state legislative sessions

In 2012, the Legislature will be in session from January 4 through a date to be determined by the legislature.

Major issues

Redistricting was a divisive issue in 2011 and has to be dealt with in this session. Other issues include addressing a $3.5 billion budget gap and a proposal to ban hydrofracking.^[2]

2011

In 2011, the Legislature will be in session from January 5 through a date to be determined by the Legislature. ^[3]

2010

In 2010, the Legislature convened its regular session on January 6. The Legislature remained in regular session throughout the year. Additionally, the Legislature was in an ongoing special session, which convened in 2009, dealing with issues of deficit reduction.^[4]

Legislative Houses

Legislative elections are held in November of every even-numbered year. Both Assembly members and Senators serve two-year terms without term limits.

In order to be a member of either house, one must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the state of New York for at least five years, and a resident of the district for at least one year prior to election.

The lower Assembly consists of 150 members, each chosen from a single-member district. The Senate includes a varying number of members. The New York Constitution provides that the default membership be fifty members. However, it provides that if any county would by virtue of its population be entitled to more than three Senators, then the first three Senators would count towards the limit of fifty, while the remainder would be in addition to the fifty. Currently, there are twelve additional Senators (who are in terms of legislative power equal to any other Senators), making the total membership sixty-two. This accounts for the large percentage of the state population taken up by New York City and its suburbs (usually estimated at about 60%, depending on which counties are included as suburbs). Senate districts are currently between two and three times more populous than Assembly districts.

Senate

Each member represents an average of 312,550 residents, as of the 2010 Census.^[5] After the 2000 Census, each member represented 306,072.^[6]

Party		As of February 2012
	Democratic Party	29
	Republican Party	32
	Vacancy	1
Total		62

Assembly

Each member represents an average of 129,187 residents, as of the 2010 Census.^[7] After the 2000 Census, each member represented 126,510.^[8]

Party		As of February 2012
	Democratic Party	96
	Republican Party	49
	Independence Party of New York	1
	Vacancy	4
Total		150

Legislators

Salaries

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

As of 2011, members of the New York Legislature are paid $79,500/year and per diem of $61/half day and $171/full day. Per diem varies and is tied to the federal rate. ^[9]

The $79,500/year that New York legislators are paid as of 2011 is the same as they were paid during legislative sessions in 2007.^[10][11]

When sworn in

See also: When state legislators assume office after a general election

New York legislators assume office January 1st.

Leaders

The Assembly is headed by the Speaker, while the Senate is headed by the President, a post held ex officio by the State Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor, as President of the Senate, has only a casting vote. More often, the Senate is presided over by the Temporary President, who is also the Majority Leader, or by a senator of the Majority Leader's choosing.

The Assembly Speaker and Senate Majority Leader control the assignment of committees and leadership positions, along with control of the agenda in their chambers. The two are considered powerful statewide leaders and along with the Governor of New York control most of the agenda of state business in New York.

Party control

The New York State Legislature is currently split by party. The Republicans currently hold a narrow 32-30 seat majority in the Senate and the Democrats hold a 95-51 seat (four vacancies) majority in the Assembly. Among the top reasons for this split include the more conservative upstate region holding more clout in the State Senate, as well as Long Island, where voters are increasingly trending towards the Democrats on the state and local levels (Long Island was once overwhelmingly Republican) but continue to re-elect their incumbent Republican state senators (some of whom have served for many years, such as 30+ year veteran Caesar Trunzo, and most of whom have raised considerable amounts of money to deter challengers). Republicans currently hold eight of the nine state senate seats for Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

In recent years, Republicans in the State Senate have lost ground, particularly in Westchester County and New York City, though they still hold a few senate seats representing parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island (which leans Republican at most levels of government). Economic troubles and population loss in Upstate New York is also a factor, as Democratic-leaning areas of that region have become more important in recent elections. In the past, Democrats would occasionally switch parties when they run for Senate so they could sit with the majority. Recent Democratic gains have led to fewer defections from the party.

The Assembly has been dominated by Democrats for about 30 years and Republicans have recently lost ground in this chamber as well. Between 2002 and 2005, the Republican conference dropped from 53 seats to 45. Republicans even lost some districts that historically have been reliably Republican, especially on Long Island. One crucial reason for the Democrats' dominance is that they control 63 of the 64 districts that are assigned to New York City (an extension of the party's dominance at most other levels in the city).

The Legislature is empowered to make law, subject to the governor's power to veto a bill. However, the veto may be overridden by the Legislature if there is a two-thirds majority in favor of overriding in each House.

Constitutional amendments

According to Article XIX of the New York Constitution, the state legislature has the power to propose amendments to the constitution as follows:

• Any proposed amendments must be referred to the New York Attorney General, who is required to provide a written opinion as to how the proposed amendment fits in with other provisions of the constitution.
• If both chambers of the legislature (the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly) agree with the proposed amendment by a simple majority vote, the proposed amendment is then referred to "the next regular legislative session convening after the succeeding general election of members of the assembly."
• If that next session of the legislature agrees with the amendment by a simple majority vote of both chambers, "it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit each proposed amendment or amendments to the people for approval in such manner and at such times as the legislature shall prescribe".
• If a general statewide vote approves the amendment by a simple majority vote, it becomes a part of the constitution on the "day of January next after such approval."^[12]

External links

• Official site of the New York Senate
• Official site of the New York Assembly
• Compiling the Legislative History of a New York State Law
• Wikipedia: New York Legislature

References

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