New year, new committee chairs

Legislative leaders in both chambers in Albany announced new committee chairmanships and leadership assignments for the 2025-2026 session. It involves some significant changes as members get shifted around to fill vacancies, accommodate new members and otherwise make adjustments for members to move through the ranks.

Senate committee chairs

Codes Committee: Zellnor Myrie

Insurance Committee: Jamaal Bailey

Elections Committee: Kristen Gonzalez

Ethics Committee: Shelley Mayer

Cities 2 Committee: Chris Ryan

Consumer Protection Committee: Rachel May

Disabilities Committee: Patricia Fahy

Procurements and Contracts Committee: April BaskinLibraries Committee: Siela Bynoe

On the Senate side, perhaps the biggest change is in the Elections and Codes Committees. After chairing the Elections Committee for several years, ushering in a number of major voting rights laws and updating statutes untouched for decades, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie has been tapped by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to lead the Codes Committee. It has purview over the state’s criminal justice laws and was previously headed by state Sen. Jamaal Bailey. Bailey, who also leads the Bronx Democratic Party, is now the chair of the Insurance Committee, taking over from recently retired former state Sen. Neil Breslin. Although arguably less high-profile than the Codes Committee, the Insurance Committee oversees a lucrative industry with monetary and political power in Albany.

The change comes at a consequential time. A series of high-profile murders and other violent crimes in the subway has stoked concern over public safety in New York City. Although major crime in the subway has declined since 2019, prior to the pandemic, last year saw murders in the subway system surge from five in 2023 to 10 last year, as well as an increase in felony assaults. 

Public safety will play a big role in the upcoming legislative session. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last month that she wants to make changes to the state’s involuntary commitment laws to address incidents allegedly involving people with severe, untreated mental illness. Even as she asserted that overall crime is on the decline, Hochul added 250 more National Guard members to patrol the subways to help increase the perception of safety. New York City Mayor Eric Adams also announced that 200 more police officers would be deployed into the system. Part of his state legislative agenda is to expand involuntary commitment laws and make changes to the state’s bail and discovery laws. 

Myrie kicked off the new year by introducing a bill to change the state’s discovery laws, which lawmakers tightened in 2019 to impose quicker deadlines for prosecutors to share evidence with defendants. Prosecutors have said the law created unrealistic requirements with little additional resources, which has led to cases being dropped. The bill from Myrie and new Assembly Member Micah Lasher would allow prosecutors to more easily directly access information from police. It would be considered by the Codes Committee now chaired by Myrie.

Myrie is also running for mayor of New York City, and a new focus on public safety in his official legislative role is easier to translate to the campaign trail than voting rights legislation. “As a born and raised New Yorker, I know our city and parts of our state feel less safe than they used to,” Myrie said in a statement about his new chairmanship. “New Yorkers deserve leaders at every level of government who give public safety the focus it deserves.” In his new position, he said he would focus on public safety in the subway, combating gun violence and ending a “surge” of hate crimes. Myrie’s statement also declared that he would represent his chamber on issues of public safety during budget talks. 

Taking over for Myrie on the Elections Committee is state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez. “I look forward to continuing to address election misinformation and deep fakes in this role, as well as create an agenda that protects our democracy and ensures that voter rights and education is a priority,” Gonzalez said in a statement, referencing a package of voting rights bills lawmakers will vote on next week. 

Despite the new position, Gonzalez is maintaining her leadership of the Internet & Technology Committee. In a conference where nearly everyone has a committee (with only two exceptions), holding dual committee chairmanships is rare. Only one other member now chairs two committees: state Sen. Shelley Mayer, who kept her existing position with the Education Committee but also took over the Ethics and Internal Governance Committee. The Ethics Committee was previously led by Breslin, who chaired two committees before he retired.

Each freshman lawmaker got a committee to head for the new year. State Sen. Chris Ryan got the Cities 2 Committee, which traditionally goes to an upstater. He took over from fellow Central New York state Sen. Rachel May, who got a new position leading the Consumer Protection Committee. That committee  lost its chair when former state Sen. Kevin Thomas got redistricted out of his seat and chose not to run again. State Sen. Pat Fahy, who led the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee, wasn’t able to keep her purview of higher education but instead got the Disabilities Committee. She takes over for now-Rep. John Mannion, who had chaired the committee while he was in the state Senate. State Sen. April Baskin is chairing the Procurements and Contracts Committee, which she is taking from state Sen. Jeremy Cooney. Stewart-Cousins had appointed Cooney the chair of the Transportation Committee last year after now-Rep. Tim Kennedy went to Congress, but Cooney had held onto his other committee in the meantime. Finally, state Sen. Siela Bynoe is now chairing the Libraries Committee, which had belonged to one-term state Sen. Iwen Chu in the previous session.

Assembly Committee chairs

Speaker Pro Tempore: Pamela Hunter

Ways and Means Committee: Gary Pretlow

Racing and Wagering Committee: Carrie Woerner

Small Business Committee: Marianne Buttenschon

Tourism Committee: Ron Kim

Aging Committee: Rebecca Seawright

People with Disabilities Committee: Angelo Santabarbara

Libraries and Education Technology Committee: Robert CarrollBanks Committee: Clyde Vanel

Oversight Committee: Jonathan Jacobson

Corporations (MTA) Committee: Edward Braunstein

Cities Committee: Patrick Burke

Mental Health Committee: Jo Anne Simon

Ethics Committee: Karen McMahon

Higher Education Committee: Alicia Hyndman

Veterans Affairs Committee: Steve Stern

Local Governments Committee: Billy Jones

On the Assembly side, Speaker Carl Heastie got a head start to the year by telling members that Assembly Member Gary Pretlow would be the new chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Former Assembly Member Helene Weinstein’s retirement left the position up for grabs. That shift meant that Pretlow’s own Racing and Wagering Committee needed a new leader. 

On Thursday, Heastie announced that would be Assembly Member Carrie Woerner. This is her third committee chairmanship in about two years, having hopped from the Libraries Committee to the Small Business Committee at the start of last year. The Racing and Wagering Committee is a good fit for the upstate member whose district includes the Saratoga Racetrack. Assembly Member Marianne Buttenschon took over Woerner’s old role leading the Small Business Committee. This is Buttenschon’s first time chairing a standing committee.

In another bit of musical chairs, Assembly Member Ron Kim took over the Tourism Committee from the recently retired former Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell. Kim had chaired the Aging Committee, where he was a loud critic of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes and an advocate for increasing home care worker wages. Heastie gave that role this legislative session to Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, moving her out of her position as chair of the People with Disabilities Committee. That freed up the chairmanship for Assembly Member Angelo Santabarbara, who has championed disability issues during his time in the Legislature. He had previously chaired the Libraries and Education Technology Committee, which Heastie has now given to Assembly Member Robert Carroll, a staunch advocate for improving educational outcomes for children with dyslexia. This is Carroll’s first full standing committee leadership role.

Assembly Member Pamela Hunter took on a new leadership role in the conference as Heastie turned to her as speaker pro tempore, the “voice” of the chamber who will regularly run floor proceedings. She takes over for longtime former Assembly Member Jeffrion Aubry, who had held the position for years and become an icon of the Assembly. To facilitate the new role, Hunter lost her position chairing the Banks Committee. Assembly Member Clyde Vanel is taking over instead, moving over from his previous position as chair of the Oversight, Analysis and Investigation Committee. Taking his place there in the new session is Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson, giving him his first standing committee to lead.

Former Assembly Member Kenneth Zebrowski had chaired the Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, which sounds wonky but has oversight over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Heastie tapped Queens Assembly Member Edward Braunstein to take over the committee, which will likely play a role in major negotiations this year over funding for the MTA’s five-year capital plan that legislative leaders rejected last month. Braunstein is giving up his previous chairmanship of the Cities Committee, handing it over to Assembly Member Patrick Burke for his first time chairing.

Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon is taking on a new position as chair of the Mental Health Committee, which former Assembly Member Aileen Gunther left vacant when she retired at the end of last year. Simon moves over from the Ethics and Guidance Committee, which will now be chaired by Assembly Member Karen McMahon. She had previously only chaired a subcommittee.

Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman got a promotion with Heastie’s decision to tap her as chair of the Higher Education Committee. Before leaving for the upper chamber, Fahy had chaired the committee that has purview on colleges and universities in the state, including New York’s public university systems. Hyndman had not previously chaired a full standing committee. Assembly Member Steve Stern found himself in a similar boat, getting assigned to chair the Veterans Affairs Committee after previously only heading a subcommittee. He takes over from the newly retired former Assembly Member Kimberly Jean-Pierre. 

Lastly, Assembly Member Billy Jones got promoted to chairing a full committee, with Heastie tapping him for the Local Governments Committee. The North Country member recently ruled out a run for Congress if Rep. Elise Stefanik gets confirmed as the United States's U.N. ambassador as part of the Trump administration. Jones takes over the committee from former Assembly Member Fred Thiele.