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2020 New York legislative session

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Some states made changes to 2020 state legislative sessions and legislative activity in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
For a full list of changes, visit: Changes to state legislative session dates in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020.
New York: The New York State Legislature suspended its session, effective April 2, 2020, through May 26, 2020. The legislature recessed on June 10, 2020, and reconvened on July 20, 2020.
New York State Legislature

Seal of New York.png
General information
Type:   State legislature
Term limits:   None
Session start:   January 8, 2020
Website:   Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:   Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D)
House Speaker:  Carl Heastie (D)
Majority Leader:   Senate: Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D)
House: Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D)
Minority Leader:   Senate: John Flanagan (R)
House: William Barclay (R)
Structure
Members:  63 (Senate), 150 (Assembly)
Length of term:   2 years (Senate), 2 years (Assembly)
Authority:   Art III, Sec. 3, New York Constitution
Salary:   $79,500/year + per diem
Elections
Last election:  November 6, 2018
Next election:  November 3, 2020
Redistricting:  New York Legislature has control

In 2020, the New York State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 8 and adjourn on December 31.

Several state legislatures suspended their sessions or otherwise limited legislative activity in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

At the start of the 2020, New York was one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Following the 2018 election, Democrats had a 40-23 majority in the Senate and a 106-43 supermajority over Republicans in the House, in addition to one member of the Independence Party. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta.

At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the New York state Senate and a supermajority in the state House.
  • New York was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • New York’s governor was Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

    • Black.png Click the links to read more about the 2020 state Senate and state House elections.
    Black.png Click the links to read more about the 2018 state Senate and state House elections.

    Partisan control in 2020

    See also: State government trifectas

    New York was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2020 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state Assembly. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    New York was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the New York State Legislature in the 2020 legislative session.

    New York State Senate

    Party As of January 2020
         Democratic Party 40
         Republican Party 22
         Vacancies 1
    Total 63

    Between 1992 and 2020, partisan control of the New York State Senate was primarily held by Republicans. In the 2018 elections, Senate Democrats gained enough seats to assume control of the chamber which had previously been held by a governing coalition involving the Republican caucus and members of the Independent Democratic Conference between 2012 and 2016. The table below shows the partisan history of the New York State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    New York State Senate election results: 1992-2018

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18
    Democrats 26 25 26 26 25 25 27 29 32 30 33 31 32 40
    Republicans 35 36 35 35 36 37 35 33 30 32 30* 32 31* 23

    *A coalition between the Independent Democratic Conference and Senate Republicans had kept the Senate in Republican control.

    From 1992 to 2008, Republicans held consistent control of the New York State Senate. Throughout the period, Republicans usually controlled between 33 and 37 seats, while Democrats controlled between 25 and 29 seats. In the 2008 elections, Democrats took control of the Senate with a 32-30 majority. During the 2009 legislative session, two Democratic members joined with Republicans to create a 32-30 coalition majority and gave Republicans leadership of the chamber. The arrangement lasted until July 2009 when the two Democrats rejoined the Democratic caucus, giving them a 32-30 majority once again.[1][2]

    After the 2010 elections, Republicans had a free-standing majority in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, Democrats returned to a majority, 33-30, but Republicans built a coalition with the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC)—a group of five Democratic senators—to create a narrow majority. Dean Skelos (R) was majority leader and shared the top leadership position with IDC leader Jeff Klein (D) on a rotating basis.[3]

    As a result of the 2014 elections, Republicans gained an outright majority but lost it in a special election on April 19, 2016.[4] Democrats held a 32-31 numerical majority in the Senate following the special election and the 2016 general election but a power-sharing agreement between the IDC and Senate Republicans kept the state Senate in Republican control. After the 2018 elections, Democrats held enough seats to break the Republican-IDC governing coalition.

    New York State Assembly

    Party As of January 2020
         Democratic Party 104
         Republican Party 42
         Independence 1
         Vacancies 3
    Total 150

    Between 1992 and 2020, partisan control of the New York State Assembly was held by Democrats. The table below shows the partisan history of the New York State Assembly following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    New York State Assembly election results: 1992-2018

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18
    Democrats 101 94 96 98 99 102 104 108 109 99 105 106 106 106
    Republicans 49 56 54 52 51 48 46 42 41 50 44 44 43 43
    Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1

    From 1992 to 2020, Democrats held consistent control of the New York State Assembly. Throughout the period, Democrats usually controlled between 94 and 109 seats, while Republicans controlled between 41 and 56 seats. Assembly Democrats won the 100 seats required for a two-thirds supermajority nine times between 1992 and 2020. The last time that Republicans held an outright majority was in 1974.[5]

    Between 1992 and 2020, Democrats had their largest majority following the 2008 elections when they held a 68-seat advantage. Despite the national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D), the New York State Assembly was resistant to that trend. Assembly Democrats never fell below 99 seats during Obama's presidency. From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.

    Leadership in 2020

    New York State Senate

    New York State Assembly

    Regular session

    The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2020 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2020. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in New York state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, there were 70 standing committees in New York's state government, including no joint legislative committees, 33 state Senate committees, and 37 state Assembly committees.

    Senate committees


    Assembly committees


    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the New York Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XIX of the New York Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in New York
    New York Constitution
    Seal of New York.png
    Preamble
    Articles
    I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X • XI • XII • XIII • XIV • XV • XVI • XVII • XVIII • XIX • XX

    The New York Constitution can be amended through legislatively referred constitutional amendments or through constitutional conventions.

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    A simple majority vote is required during two successive legislative sessions for the New York State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 126 votes in the New York State Assembly and 32 votes in the New York State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

    Convention

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    According to Section 2 of Article XIX of the New York Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is to automatically appear on the state's ballot every 20 years starting in 1957. New York is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

    The table below shows the last and next constitutional convention question election years:

    State Interval Last question on the ballot Next question on the ballot
    New York 20 years 2017 2037


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of New York.

    New York Party Control: 1992-2025
    Nine years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    Senate R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D
    Assembly D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

    See also

    Elections New York State Government State Legislatures State Politics
    Ballotpedia Elections Badge-VOTE-no shadow-Square.jpg
    New York State Flag-Close Up.jpg
    State Houses-Tile image.png
    State Courts-Tile image.png

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ The New York Times, "G.O.P. Regains Control of New York State Senate," June 8, 2009
    2. ↑ The Washington Post, "Stalemate in N.Y. State Senate Appears to Be Resolved as Democrat Rejoins Caucus," July 10, 2009
    3. ↑ NY Senate, "Independent Democratic Conference, Senate Republicans Announce Creation of Historic Bipartisan Partnership," December 4, 2012
    4. ↑ Times Union, "IDC will once again partner with Senate GOP," January 2, 2017
    5. ↑ NY Times, "State Assembly's Democrats Try to Dominate, as Republicans Try to Survive," August 22, 1982
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