New York Legislature

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The New York Legislature is the legislative branch of the U.S. state of New York, seated at the state's capital, Albany. The Legislature is bicameral, consisting of two houses: the New York State Assembly and the New York Senate.

The Assembly is the lower house of the Legislature, and consists of one-hundred and fifty members, each chosen from a single-member district. The upper house, the Senate, includes a varying number of members. The Constitution provides that the default membership be fifty members. However, it provides that if any county would by virtue of its population be entitled to more than three Senators, then the first three Senators would count towards the limit of fifty, while the remainder would be in addition to the fifty. Currently, there are twelve additional Senators (who are in terms of legislative power equal to any other Senators), making the total membership sixty-two.

In order to be a member of either house, one must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the state of New York for at least five years, and a resident of the district for at least one year prior to election.

Legislative elections are held in November of every even-numbered year. Both Assemblymembers and Senators serve two-year terms.

The Assembly is headed by the Speaker, while the Senate is headed by the President, a post held ex officio by the State Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor, as President of the Senate, has only a casting vote. More often, the Senate is presided over by the Temporary President, who is also the Majority Leader, or by a senator of the Majority Leader's choosing.

The Assembly Speaker and Senate Majority Leader control the assignment of committees and leadership positions, along with control of the agenda in their chambers. The two are considered powerful statewide leaders and along with the Governor of New York control most of the agenda of state business in New York.

An interesting note is that the New York state legislature is split. The State Senate is controlled by the Republicans, who have a 35-27 majority, but the state Assembly is controlled by a Democratic supermajority of 105-45 seats. Among the top reasons for this split include the more conservative upstate region holding more clout in the State Senate, as well as Long Island, where voters are increasingly trending towards the Democrats on the state level but continue to re-elect their incumbent Republican state senators.

In recent years, Republicans in the State Senate have lost ground, particularly in New York City. However, the nature of New York State politics is such that occasionally Democrats will switch parties when they run for Senate so they can sit with the majority.

The Assembly has been dominated by Democrats for nearly 30 years and Republicans have recently lost ground in this chamber as well. Between 2002 and 2005, the Republican conference dropped from 53 seats to 45.

The Legislature is empowered to make law, subject to the Governor's power to veto a bill. However, the veto may be overriden by the Legislature if there is a two-thirds majority in favor of overriding in each House. Furthermore, it has the power to propose Constitutional amendments by a majority vote, and then another majority vote following an election. If so proposed, the amendment becomes valid if agreed to by the voters at a referendum.

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