Albany To Gain New Crop Of Lawmakers
With New York state elections completed, next year’s legislative session is shaping up to be one of a different kind.
In the State Assembly, 23 freshman lawmakers will be coming to Albany in January, making up 15 percent of the 150-member body. The breakdown will be 108 Democrats to 42 Republicans.
This will be the most diverse group of lawmakers ever to make up the Assembly, which will lead to more vocal debates about immigrant rights than ever before.
Fourteen Assembly members were born in foreign countries, including England, Israel, Jordan, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Taiwan, and Jamaica. Another 11 members of the Assembly are first-generation Americans.
As much as state lawmakers like to talk about mainstreaming, assimilation, and integration, they have a different practice when it comes to segregating their ethnicity, heritage, religion, gender, and ancestry. No fewer than 12 organizations, task forces, caucuses, and groups cater to celebrating the achievements and contributions of Italians, Irish, Jews, Hispanics, Blacks, Women, New Americans, and Asians.
Within this pattern of segregation that lawmakers deem important, the Jewish demographic for the next session in the Assembly includes 22 lawmakers who identify as Jewish. Two new faces will be added to the column of Jewish lawmakers: Simcha Eisenstein, 35, who replaced the retired Dov Hikind; and Jonathan Jacobson, 65, who will represent Orange, Ulster, and Dutchess counties in the mid-Hudson Valley.
Among those taking their seats next year will be 50 women, 26 blacks, 21 each of Italian and Irish decent, 11 Hispanics, an two Asian Americans.
Advocates for term limits should keep in mind that members of the state Assembly seem to stick around a bit longer than their counterparts in the Senate. Assembly members average 10-and-a-half years, while Senators last eight years on average.
The average age of the 213-member legislature is 53.5.
Sizing Up the State Senate
Seventeen freshman Senators are coming to Albany in January. Fifteen of the new members are in the Democratic conference. The fresh faces in the upper house will be under decidedly new beginnings, as Democrats won big earlier this month and in September’s primary battles.
Senate Republicans lost a whopping eight seats in November, so the Senate will be dominated by 40 Democrats, just under a two-thirds majority in the 63-seat chamber.
There is the vexing question of what will become of Simcha Felder, who has been caucusing with Senate Republicans since he first got elected. Leaders of the Democratic conference are trying to woo the Midwood Democrat to their side. As newly-minted Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins tells it, Felder is trying to find a graceful way to get back into the Democratic fold.
“He asked for a meeting and I am certainly looking forward to the meeting,” Stewart-Cousins said earlier this week. “I will be speaking with Senator Felder in the upcoming days. We are going to have a conversation.”
One freshman lawmaker, a longtime friend of Felder, told me he is confident Felder will be joining the Democratic conference with no animus among the members of the conference.
In terms of diversity: Thirty-two percent of Senators will be women – six Republican women, and 14 women on the Democratic side of the aisle. The Senate will welcome its first Asian member, first native Iranian member, and first known Muslim.
Blacks and Italians make up the largest racial and ethnic contingents, with 11 each; nine members identify as being Jewish; seven are Irish; six are Hispanic; and three have Greek ancestry.
Debate Topics for the Next Session
Considering the ideologies of many of the new lawmakers, hot topics likely to be debated next session are the separation and detention of immigrant families; the DREAM Act; gun control; Roe v. Wade; election reforms , an overhaul of school testing and teacher evaluations; legalization of marijuana; and the potentially budget busting single-payer health care.
Before this year ends, state lawmakers are likely to return to Albany to vote themselves a pay raise based on the recommendations of a four-member New York State Compensation Committee, which will meet and hold public hearings twice in November. Pay raises could also be in store for members of the Governor’s cabinet and heads of state agencies. The sticking point will likely be whether the folks in line for a pay raise can also earn outside income.
Ballot Position of Political Parties
Fallout from the November elections left behind two political parties that had automatic ballot access – the Reform and Women’s Equality parties.
In order to receive automatic ballot access, a political party needs to attract more than 50,000 votes. Once that threshold is cleared in a gubernatorial election year, such as the one we just experienced, statewide candidates who receive that party’s endorsement do not have to go the expensive route to circulate petitions to get on the ballot.
For the next four years, the following political parties will have ballot access: Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Working Families, Green, Libertarian, Independence, and the Serve America Movement. The Libertarian and Serve America Movement parties are new political entities to gain permanent ballot access for the next four years.
Leadership Posts
Senate Democrats have elected Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D – Yonkers, Westchester County) as the next Senate Majority Leader. No longer can the phrase “three men in a room” be used to describe private backroom budget and legislative negotiations.
John Flanagan (R – East Northport, Suffolk County) will be the next Senate Republican Leader, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D – Bronx) and Assemblyman Brian Kolb (R – Canandaigua, Ontario County) will remain as the leaders of their respective parties in the lower house.