NEW YORK STATE SENATE SESSION CALENDAR HOW TO

(More information on the budget process is below.)Īfter a bill is introduced, the chamber’s leadership (the Assembly Speaker or Senate Majority Leader) refers it to an appropriate standing committee. The exception to this rule is the yearly budget, which is introduced by the Governor. Bills can also be introduced by standing committees, which are groups of legislators that regularly meet to consider legislation on certain topics. The Senate has 63 members: 40 Democrats and 23 Republicans, with one conservative Democratic Senator, Simcha Felder, who has historically caucused with the Republicans.Ī bill must be introduced by a Senator or an Assemblymember. The Assembly has 150 members: 106 Democrats, 43 Republicans and one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats. New York has a bicameral legislature, which means there are two chambers: the Assembly and the Senate. During this two-year session, the legislature convenes in Albany each January through the end of June. This means that legislation introduced in January 2019 can be considered in the legislature until the end of 2020. Legislative sessions in New York last two years.The current two-year legislative session began on January 9, 2019. New York State Legislature 101 The Basics

NEW YORK STATE SENATE SESSION CALENDAR HOW TO

For more information on the importance of state advocacy, what motivates state legislators, and how to get started, check out the Indivisible States Guide.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how the New York State Legislature operates. They’ll finally have to take votes on progressive issues that have stalled in the Senate for years. Some more moderate Democrats are nervous. Indivisible groups are ready to lead this charge.Some New York Democrats are with us-they’ve been just as frustrated by the IDC and the Republican-controlled Senate as we have, and they’re excited to get to work. We have a lot of years of stalled legislation to make up for! Our new blue trifecta gives us the power to pass innovative policy and become a bellwether for progressives nationwide.

Now it’s time to make New York State into a national progressive leader. In 2018, Indivisible groups and progressive advocates in NY worked hard to replace most IDC members with genuinely progressive Democratic senators.Īs a result of this political activism, NYS is a new blue trifecta, meaning Democrats control both chambers of the legislature and the governorship. Progressive legislation has stalled for years in New York State (NYS) because of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of breakaway Democratic senators who maintained a power-sharing agreement with the Republican Caucus. The 2018 blue wave brought progressive change around the country and its impact was especially powerful in New York.

New york state senate session calendar