The New York State Senate is considered the upper house in the New York State Legislature. It has 63 members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve. The New York Constitution provides for a varying number of members in the Senate, elected from single-member constituencies equal in population. The current format for apportionment has followed the Supreme Court decision in Baker v. Carr, decided in 1964.
Recent State Senate history
2008 elections and power struggle
Democrats won 32 of 62 seats in New York's upper chamber in the 2008 General Election on November 4, capturing the majority for the first time in more than four decades. Previously, the Republicans had held the chamber for all but one year from 1939 to 2008, even as New York turned almost solidly Democratic at all levels.
However, a power struggle emerged before the new term began. Four Democratic senatorsâ€"Rubén DÃaz, Sr. (Bronx), Carl Kruger (Brooklyn), Pedro Espada, Jr. (Bronx), and Hiram Monserrate (Queens)â€"immediately refused to caucus with their party. The self-named "Gang of Four" refused to back Malcolm Smith (Queens) as the chamber's majority leader and sought concessions. Monserrate soon reached an agreement with Smith that reportedly included the chairmanship of the Consumer Affairs Committee. The remaining "Gang of Three" reached an initial compromise in early December that collapsed within a week, but was ultimately resolved with Smith becoming majority leader until early June 2009, when two Democrats joined with Republicans to elect a new leadership for the New York State Senate, reaching a power-sharing deal under which Republicans became, again, technically the majority party.
Republican reclamation and ensuing dispute
Though there were 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans in the Senate, on June 8, 2009, then-Senators Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada, Jr.â€"who were part of what was described by the Associated Press as a "parliamentary coup"â€"allegedly voted with the 30 Republican members to install Senator Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) as the new majority leader of the Senate, replacing Malcolm Smith.
The move came after Republican whip Tom Libous introduced a surprise resolution to vacate the chair and replace Smith as temporary president and majority leader. In an effort to stop the vote, Democratic whip Jeff Klein (Bronx) unilaterally moved to recess, and Smith had the lights and Internet cut off. However, they were unable to stop the session. All 30 Republicans plus two Democrats, Monserrate and Espada, voted in favor of the resolution. In accordance with a prearranged deal, Espada was elected temporary president and acting lieutenant governor while Skelos was elected majority leader. Both Monserrate and Espada were members of the original "Gang of Four" (the other two being DÃaz, Sr. and Kruger), a group of Democratic senators that threatened to defect to the Republican caucus to prevent Smith from taking control of the chamber in January 2009. Monserrate had backed out of the Gang at the time, being the first of the four to back Smith.
The apparent Republican seizure of power was tenuous in any event. Smith claimed the vote was illegal because of Klein's motion to adjourn; parliamentary procedure stipulates that a vote to adjourn takes precedence over all other business. However, Smith, Klein, and most of the Democrats walked out before an actual vote to adjourn could be taken. Smith has also claimed that it is illegal to oust the majority leader in the middle of a two-year term, and as such, leaders can only be replaced at the beginning of a term, except in the case of death or resignation. Smith still asserted he was majority leader and would challenge the vote in court. He locked the doors of the state senate chambers in an effort to prevent any further legislative action. The Espada-Skelos coalition majority, which also courted as many as ten more Democrats, announced plans to hold sessions in the "Well" of the legislative office building until chamber doors are reopened. By the time of the scheduled session on June 10 at 3:00Â p.m., at the request of Governor David Paterson, the keys to the senate chamber were turned over to the coalition; Smith has claimed that the coalition stole the key. The scheduled session was eventually postponed.
Both Monserrate and Espada faced accusations of unethical or criminal conduct. Monserrate was indicted for felony assault in March and would have automatically lost his seat if convicted. New York, like most states, has a provision in its state constitution which bars convicted felons from holding office. (Monseratte would be acquitted of the felonies, but was convicted on misdemeanors.) Espada was the target of a state investigation into whether he funded his campaign with money siphoned from a nonprofit health care agency he controls. The Bronx County District Attorney's office was also investigating charges that Espada actually resided in Mamaroneck, Westchester County rather than the north Bronx district he represented.
As a result of the coup, Senate Democrats voted for John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) to replace Smith as Democratic Leader. This led Monserrate to declare that he would once again caucus with the Democrats, which led to a 31â€"31 split.
On July 9, 2009, a source stated that Espada would be rejoining the Senate Democratic Conference after reaching a deal to have Smith be pro tem president until a "transition period" during which Senator Sampson would ascend to the Senate's Temporary Presidency. The term expired with Smith still as Temporary President. Democrats orchestrated the removal of both Espada and Monserrate from their ranks; the Senate voted to expel Monserrate, while Espada was defeated in a primary election that had the state party back his primary opponent, Gustavo Rivera.
2011â€"2016
The Republicans regained control of the Senate after the 2010 elections, with a 32â€"30 majority. Just before the new chamber convened in January 2011, four Democrats, led by former Democratic whip Klein, broke away from the main Democratic Conference to form an Independent Democratic Conference (IDC). Klein said that he and his three colleagues could no longer support Sampson's leadership.
Following the 2010 census, New York redistricted the Senate, expanding it from 62 to 63 seats effective in January 2013. When all election night results were tabulated on November 6, 2012, it appeared that Democrats would hold 33 seats for a three-seat majorityâ€"just their third Senate majority since World War II. However, Senator Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, elected as a Democrat, chose to conference with the Republicans. It was later announced, on December 4, 2012, that the Republican Party came to a power-sharing deal with the four-member Independent Democratic Conference, which had previously defected from the Democratic leadership. Under the agreement, Senators Skelos and Klein would alternate daily as temporary president of the Senate. Also as part of the change, former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith joined the Independent Democrats, only to be expelled from the conference in April 2013 due to a scandal in which Smith attempted to bribe the Republican Party chairs in New York City for a Wilson Pakula to run in the upcoming New York City mayoral election. Previous Senate Minority Leader John L. Sampson was expelled from his conference on May 6, 2013, following his arrest.
District 46 was embroiled in a recount when the new Senate was sworn in and the then-leading candidate George Amedore (GOP) became a New York state senator. After the recount was completed, he lost by 18 votes, making him the shortest-serving senator in modern New York history and the loser of the state's second-closest Senate race, to Democratic opponent Cecilia Tkaczyk. Amedore would eventually win a rematch with Tkaczyk in 2014 and be elected to a full term.
In 2014, the Independent Democratic Conference announced that they would end their political alliance with the Republicans and create a new one with the Senate Democratic Conference, citing a need "to fight for the core Democratic policies that are left undone." On November 5, 2014, Rubén DÃaz, Sr. announced his intention to leave the Democratic Caucus and ally himself with, but not formally join, the Republicans. However, as of December 2016, Sen. Diaz remains a member of the Senate Democratic Conference. As of January 5, 2017, the IDC has continued its relationship with the Senate Republicans.
On May 4, 2015, Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, announced the arrest of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, along with his son, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Within days Skelos announced he was stepping down as leader of the Republican Caucus and as Majority Leader. Senator John Flanagan, of Suffolk County, became the new Majority Leader, and the first Majority Leader from Suffolk County. After his conviction in December 2015, his seat was declared vacant with a special election to be held on the presidential primary of 2016. The special election was won by Democrat Todd Kaminsky, resulting in the Democratic Party having a numerical 32-31 advantage over the Republicans in the State Senate. Despite this, Senator Felder and the members of the IDC chose to remain in coalition with the Republican majority.
Late in 2016, Senator Jesse Hamilton announced his intention to join the IDC if re-elected when the Senate reconvenes in January 2017. Hamilton, in his first election in 2014, was aided by the Independent Democrats, which had resulted in speculation he would eventually join the caucus. In late January 2017, Senator Jose Peralta announced he was joining the IDC.
2016 elections and beyond
On November 8, 2016 after all election results were announced the Republicans initially held on to all of their seats, and actually picked up an upstate seat. Two races on Long Island were initially close enough for absentee and court challenges, leading to initial uncertainty on control of the state senate. Within days however, Felder announced he would caucus with the GOP, ensuring that the Republicans would retain the Senate. A few weeks later it was announced that Senator Michael Venditto had lost re-election, giving the Democrats a numerical majority, as in 2012. Liberal groups in New York State, including the Working Families Party, called on the governor to intervene and force the IDC and mainline Democratic Conference to unite to make New York a united one-party government in opposition to President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration. Klein criticized those groups along with Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins for lack of outreach as well as for calling on the governor to intervene in a separate branch of government. On January 2, 2017 Majority Leader Flanagan and Senator Klein announced the continuation of their coalition, now with almost a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Klein, in his statement to the press, stated that the coalition allows for bipartisan legislation getting passed and pragmatic progressive ideas to be brought to the table.
Partisan composition
The Senate was dominated by the Republican Party for much of the 20th century. Since World War II, the Democrats have only controlled the upper house twice. The first time came in 1965, after the 1964 Presidential Election only for them to lose it in special elections that year. The second time again came to power following the 2008 elections on the coattails of the victory of President Barack Obama. In mid-2009, dissatisfaction by some Democrats in the State Senate along with billionaire Tom Golisano, over the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith resulted in 2 Democratic Senators joining with the entire Republican caucus to install Senator Dean Skelos as Majority Leader and Temporary President. Over the month of June and July the Senate was mired in a leadership crisis that ended with the breakaway Democrats rejoining the caucus in late July. The Democrats maintained their majority throughout the remainder of the 2009â€"2010 session. Following state elections in 2010, Republicans were able to gain the two seats necessary to again reclaim the majority.
The Senate's apportionment has traditionally favored Upstate due to the state constitution's original method of giving each county, even sparsely populated ones, at least one senator (a practice that mirrored the United States Senate's approach to give each state the same number of senators). This changed with Baker v. Carr (1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964), in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a "one man, one vote" system of state legislative apportionment is constitutionally required. Since then, in redistricting, the Senate has traditionally overrepresented upstate in exchange for the Assembly overrepresenting downstate (each legislative district is allowed up to 5% deviation from the average district population; the state legislature systemically uses this leeway to create less populous Senate districts upstate and more populous ones downstate, and vice versa in the Assembly).
When the Democrats won the majority in 2008, they only held five seats upstate and two on Long Island. As of the start of the 2017 session, enrolled Democrats hold all but two seats in New York City, but only three north of Westchester County and only two of the nine Long Island seats. Within the enrolled Democrats, six of the New York City-based Democrats are members of the Independent Democratic Conference and one caucuses with the Republicans. Two of the three Upstate Democrats are in the Democratic Conference while the remaining one caucuses with the Independent Democrats.
Officers
The Senate is headed by its President, a post held ex officio by the Lieutenant Governor. The Senate President has a casting vote in the event of a tie, but otherwise may not vote. More often, the Senate is presided over by the Temporary President, a post which is normally also held by the Majority Leader. After the 2008 elections, the Senate had a Democratic majority for the first time since 1965. They lost that majority on November 2, 2010, when Republican Jack Martins defeated Democratic Senator Craig Johnson and former Senator, now Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin, defeated Democrat Brian Foley. Following the defections of Jeffrey Klein, David Valesky and Diane Savino from the Democratic caucus, the trio joined freshman David Carlucci in a newly formed Independent Conference; this conference serves as "crossbenchers" separate from the Democratic and Republican conferences.
The Senate has one additional officer outside those who are elected by the people: the Secretary of the Senate is a post that is chosen by a majority vote of the senators, and does not have voting power (he/she is allowed, though officially discouraged, from discussing and negotiating legislative matters). The Secretary of the Senate is responsible for administering the Senate's office space, overseeing the handling of bills and the oversight of the sergeants-at-arms and the stenographer. The position is currently held by Frank Patience, who was elected to a two-year position in January 2011.
Majority leadership
- Temporary President: Sen. John Flanagan
- Senate Majority Leader: Sen. John Flanagan
- Deputy Senate Majority Leader: Sen. John DeFrancisco
Republican Conference Leadership
- John J. Flanagan, Temporary President and Majority Leader
- John A. DeFrancisco, Deputy Majority Leader for Legislative Operations
- Catharine M. Young, Chair, Senate Finance Committee
- Kenneth P. LaValle, Chairman, Senate Majority Conference
- James L. Seward, Chair Majority Program Development Committee
- Kemp Hannon, Assistant Majority Leader on Conference Operations
- William J. Larkin Jr., Assistant Majority Leader for House Operations
- Carl L. Marcellino, Majority Whip
- John J. Bonacic, Deputy Majority Leader for State/Federal Relations
- Martin J. Golden, Vice Chair, Majority Conference
- Josesph E. Robach, Secretary of the Senate Majority Conference
- Elizabeth Little, Chair, Majority Steering Committee
- Joseph Griffo, Deputy Majority Whip
- Andrew J. Lanza, Assistant Majority Whip
- Michael H. Ranzenhofer, Deputy Majority Leader for Economic Development
- Patrick M. Gallivan, Liaison to the Executive Branch
- Patricia Ritchie, Deputy Majority Leader for Senate/Assembly Relations*
Independent Democratic Conference
- Jeffrey D. Klein, Independent Democratic Conference Leader & Majority Coalition Leader
- David J. Valesky, Deputy Independent Democratic Conference Leader for Legislative Operations
- David Carlucci, Independent Democratic Conference Whip
- Diane J. Savino, Independent Democratic Conference Liaison to the Executive Branch
- Tony Avella, Assistant Conference Leader for Policy and Administration
Full Minority leadership
- Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Democratic Conference Leader
- Michael Gianaris, Deputy Democratic Conference Leader
- Liz Krueger, Ranking Democratic Member of Senate Finance Committee
- José M. Serrano, Chair of Democratic Conference
- Martin Malave Dilan, Assistant Democratic Conference Leader for Policy and Administration
- Timothy M. Kennedy, Assistant Democratic Conference Leader for Conference Operations
- Neil D. Breslin, Assistant Democratic Conference Leader for Floor Operations
- Kevin S. Parker, Vice Chair of Democratic Conference
- Toby Ann Stavisky, Vice Chair of Democratic Conference
- Velmanette Montgomery, Secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference
- Bill Perkins, Deputy Democratic Conference Whip
- Daniel Squadron, Assistant Democratic Conference Whip
- Brad Hoylman, Deputy Democratic Conference Floor Leader
- Gustavo Rivera, Chair of Democratic Conference Program Development
Current members
* Elected in a special election
Committee leadership
As of January 2015 (committee leaders are Republican unless otherwise noted):
District map
- Current districts and party composition of the New York Senate
See also
- Majority Leader of the New York State Senate
- List of New York State Senators
- New York State Assembly
- New York State Capitol
- New York state elections, 2008
- 2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis
- New York Provincial Congress
References
External links
- New York State Senate