How does New York’s Legislature work?

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Albany explained

There’s a good chance you’ve seen the iconic"I'm Just a Bill" bit from “Schoolhouse Rock!” And while it may have been a real bop at the time, it definitely didn’t unpack how each state’s Legislature operated. 

Sure, it’s the same general idea everywhere: bills are proposed, debated in committees and eventually passed. But how does it all work in New York?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, it’s important you understand the pivotal role that Albany plays in the lives of New Yorkers all across the state. Most big policy decisions in New York happen at the state level. New York City, for example, one of the most influential cities in the world, still needs the governor and Legislature’s approval to do many things – the City Council couldn’t even instate a plastic bag ban without permission from Albany. And New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is regularly begging the state Legislature for additional funds – or the ability to borrow funds – or to kindly extend mayoral control over the city’s schools for another couple years. 

So with that in mind, let’s get down to brass tacks. 

The state Legislature contains two separate chambers: the state Senate and Assembly. Both chambers share the responsibility of creating and amending the state’s laws. But there are differences between the two chambers.

While the state Senate is smaller than the Assembly, with 63 members – the Assembly has 150 – it’s often referred to as “the upper house.” The size of the state Senate can be altered through redistricting, when district lines are redrawn every few years, while the Assembly’s size is fixed in law. The length of each chamber’s term is two years, and there’s no cap on the number of terms each lawmaker can serve.

State lawmakers are technically part-time employees, as they only meet a couple of days a week, for six months out of the year, from January to June. Lawmakers also provide constituent services during the time that they’re not in session, though many of them moonlight as private practice lawyers, among other occupations. The busiest time of the year for lawmakers is just before the state budget is due – we’ll delve deeper into that at a later date – and leading up to the end of the session, when they tend to cram a bunch of random bills together into one giant hodgepodge of legislation known as “the big ugly.” And they do it all out of the goodness of their hearts. Just kidding! The base salary of a New York state lawmaker is $110,000. 

The minority party, which is now the Republican Party in both chambers, has virtually no power, limited budgets and smaller staff. This is part of the reason why there has been a mass exodus of Republicans from the Legislature as of late. Despite New York famously being a blue state, the GOP had a slim majority in the state Senate for nearly a decade, up until 2018, when Democrats managed to unseat five Republican incumbents and win three open seats.

Bills in the Legislature are introduced by an Assembly member, state senator or a standing committee – which is a fancy way of saying a bunch of legislators who meet to discuss specific topics like health or finance. Once a bill gets introduced, either the Assembly speaker (Carl Heastie) or state Senate majority leader (Andrea Stewart-Cousins) will determine which committee it should go to for review. At this point in the process, public hearings may be held, amendments may be made to the bill, and then the committee will vote to defeat the bill or send it to its respective chamber floor to be debated and voted upon.

If it passes in one chamber, it is then sent to the other chamber, and if it gets passed there, it will get sent to the governor, who can either sign the bill into law or veto it. Sometimes similar bills are introduced into both chambers at once. If there are two different versions of the same bill in either chamber, leaders of both chambers must create a new and identical version of the bill, which may then be voted on in each chamber. 

Thankfully, now that we live in the blessed digital age, you can track where bills are in this process on both the state Senate and Assembly’s websites.

By the numbers

A closer look at Albany

• 5: the number of state constitutions that have been adopted since 1777
• 62: Republican members of the state Legislature
• 143: Democratic members of the state Legislature
• 170: bills that were vetoed by the governor between 2019 and 2020
• 1,006: bills that were signed into law between 2019 and 2020 

A state Legislature is born

How it all began

In 1691, the Colonial Assembly was created while New York was still under British rule, and between 1708 and 1760 more power shifted from the colony’s governor to the Assembly. In 1775, the New York Provincial Congress was created, and in 1777, the first New York Constitution was created. It called for three branches: executive, judicial and legislative, the last of which was divided into two branches: the state Senate and the Assembly. 

During the American Revolution, the state’s legislative body operated in several locations to avoid the British. After the revolution’s end, the Legislature met in Fishkill, Albany and New York City, but in 1797, Albany was designated as the state Legislature’s official home, ensuring an annoying schlep for just about everybody. 

The impact of COVID-19

The state Legislature’s priorities

Body Text: The state Legislature was upended by COVID-19 in early April, which forced most lawmakers out of the legislative chambers in Albany. It took until the end of May for the state’s legislative session to reconvene remotely, allowing legislators to vote on bills from home – despite having the ability to do so since the end of March. 

Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the state Legislature’s main priority, aside from creating new health care, criminal justice and education policy, has been repairing the economic damage caused by the virus.

However, another major concern is how much power Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been given since the outbreak began. In March, the governor’s power increased greatly after a bill was passed that gave him the ability to make pretty much any directive he wants during a state of emergency, which has in turn diminished the Legislature’s power. The question of how or when to restrain the governor’s power has consistently been raised throughout the ongoing public health crisis, but given the recent resurgence of COVID-19 infections, it’s becoming less clear when his power will be reduced.

Power players

Who runs the state Legislature?

• Andrew Cuomo: As the governor of New York, Cuomo has veto power over legislation passed in the state Senate and Assembly, and determines what goes into the state’s budget – we’ll spend more time explaining that in a later newsletter. Despite his often stoic demeanor, Cuomo is known to have a flair for the arts.
• Kathy Hochul: As lieutenant governor, Hochul is technically president of the state Senate but doesn’t formally rule it. Her time is mostly spent acting as a proxy for the governor, representing him on various committees, cutting ribbons in far-flung locales, and building support for his initiatives.
• Andrea Stewart-Cousins: The first African American woman to become the majority leader of the state Senate, Stewart-Cousins oversees the chamber and can introduce new legislation as well. And she loves a good scarf.
• Carl Heastie: The Assembly speaker, Heastie supervises the Assembly and can also introduce legislation. He’s also pretty obsessed with Prince. 

Way off schedule

The creation of the Capitol

New York’s state Capitol took 32 years to build and cost $25 mill, even though the state was advised not to exceed $4 million on its construction – or spend three decades building it. But the Capitol ain’t too shabby if I do say so myself. Sure, it’s where the Assembly and state Senate meet and where you can find lawmakers’ offices, but it also contains many hidden and fascinating features. 

One of the most prominent and admired details is the Capitol’s Million Dollar Staircase, also known as the Great Western Staircase, which took 14 years to complete, between 1883 and 1897, and as its name suggests, it cost a million dollars to construct, back when a million dollars went a lot further. It took over 500 stonecutters to build the staircase, which has 444 steps and is 119 feet high. You can also find 77 faces of prominent people from the time, such as Susan B. Anthony, sculpted into the staircases.

The Capitol also contains the War Room, where 25 murals created by William de Leftwich Dodge, a prominent American artist, are displayed. Since 1997, the room has been used to show historical exhibitions to the public. There are also said to be secret passages throughout the building, and there’s a secret elevator that Franklin Delano Roosevelt built for himself while he was governor. And then there are the weirdly expensive personal showers that were constructed for a few lawmakers with taxpayer funds. Not too sure how I feel about those, if I’m being honest. 

The Capitol is also said to be haunted – and has offered haunted tours of the building after hours. In 1911, a fire ripped through the Capitol, nearly destroying it and taking the life of one man. Spooky stuff.