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2021 New York legislative session

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2021 New York legislative session
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General information
Session start:    January 6, 2021

Session end:    June 10, 2021

Leadership
Senate President
TBD

House Speaker
Carl E. Heastie (D)
Majority Leader
Senate: Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D)
House: Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D)
Minority Leader
Senate: Robert Ortt (R)
House: William A. Barclay (R)

Elections
Next Election:    November 8, 2022

Last Election:    November 3, 2020

Previous legislative sessions
2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2021 legislative sessions


In 2021, the New York State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 6 and adjourn on June 10.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2020 elections. Democrats won a 42-21 majority in the Senate and will maintain a majority in the House. The Democratic Party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2021 session, New York was one of 22 state legislatures where one party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

Redistricting is the process by which states draw new Congressional and state legislative districts following the U.S. Census. Officials sent data from the 2020 U.S. Census to states in early 2021 to begin the process of redistricting. As of the 2020 census, both state legislative and congressional districts in New York will be drawn by a bipartisan politician commission.

At the beginning of the 2021 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the New York state House and state Senate.
  • New York was one of 15 Democrat state government trifectas.
  • New York's governor was Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

    • Leadership in 2021

    New York State Senate

    New York House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2021

    See also: State government trifectas

    New York was one of 15 Democrat state government trifectas at the start of 2021 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 House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    New York was also one of 22 state legislatures where one 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 2021 legislative session.

    New York State Senate

    Party As of January 2021
         Democratic Party 42
         Republican Party 21
    Total 63

    New York House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2021
         Democratic Party 106
         Republican Party 43
         Independent 1
    Total 150

    Regular session

    The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2021 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 2021. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Redistricting

    See also: Redistricting in New York after the 2020 census

    Redistricting is the process of enacting new district boundaries for elected offices, particularly for offices in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures.

    To learn more about the redistricting process in New York after the 2020 census, click here.

    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 2021 legislative session, there were 70 standing committees in New York's state government, including 33 state Senate committees and 37 state House committees.

    Senate committees

    House 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

    Historical Senate control

    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 2020. 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: 1992-2020

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20
    Democrats 26 25 26 26 25 25 27 29 32 30 33 31 32 40 43
    Republicans 35 36 35 35 36 37 35 33 30 32 30* 32 31* 23 20

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

    From 1992 to 2008, Republicans held control of the New York State Senate. Throughout the period, Republicans 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 control 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 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. Dean Skelos (R) was majority leader and shared the 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. The Democratic majority increased to 43-20 following the 2020 elections.

    Historical House control

    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 2020. 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: 1992-2020

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20
    Democrats 101 94 96 98 99 102 104 108 109 99 105 106 106 106 106
    Republicans 49 56 54 52 51 48 46 42 41 50 44 44 43 43 43
    Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1

    From 1992 to 2020, Democrats held control of the New York State Assembly. Throughout the period, Democrats 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 10 times between 1992 and 2020. The last time that Republicans held a 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 altogether.

    See also

    Elections New York State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    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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