Government of New York | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the New York government .svg) | |
| Polity type | Presidential republic Federated state |
| Constitution | Constitution of New York |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | New York State Legislature |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Meeting place | New York State Capitol |
| Upper house | |
| Name | Senate |
| Presiding officer | Antonio Delgado,President |
| Lower house | |
| Name | Assembly |
| Presiding officer | Carl Heastie,Speaker |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state andgovernment | |
| Title | Governor |
| Currently | Kathy Hochul |
| Appointer | Election |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Cabinet |
| Leader | Governor |
| Deputy leader | Lieutenant Governor |
| Headquarters | New York State Capitol |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | New York State Unified Court System |
| Courts | Courts of New York |
| New York Court of Appeals | |
| Chief judge | Rowan Wilson |
| Seat | New York Court of Appeals Building,Albany |
Thegovernment of the State of New York, headquartered at theNew York State Capitol inAlbany, encompasses the administrative structure of theUS state ofNew York, as established by thestate's constitution. Analogously to theUS federal government, it is composed of three branches:executive,legislative, andjudicial. The head of the executive is thegovernor. Thelegislature consists of theSenate and theAssembly. TheUnified Court System consists of theCourt of Appeals and lower courts. The state is alsodivided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, which are all municipal corporations with their own government.
The elected executive officers are:
There are several (limited to twenty[1]) state government departments:
Regulations are promulgated and published in theNew York State Register and compiled in theNew York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR).[3] There are also numerous decisions, opinions, and rulings of state agencies.[4]
TheNew York State Legislature is bicameral and consists of theNew York State Senate and theNew York State Assembly. The Assembly consists of 150 members; the Senate varies in its number of members, but currently has 63.[5] The Assembly is headed by the speaker; the Senate is headed by the president, a post heldex officio by thelieutenant governor, who only has a tie-breaking "casting vote", but more often it is presided over by the temporary president or by a senator of the majority leader's choosing.
The Legislature is empowered to make laws, subject to the governor's power to veto a bill. However, the veto may be overridden by the Legislature if there is atwo-thirds majority in favor of overriding in each House. Furthermore, it has the power to propose amendments to the New York Constitution by amajority vote and then another majority vote following an election. If so proposed, the amendment becomes valid if agreed to by the voters at areferendum. Thesession laws are published in the officialLaws of New York.[6][7] The permanent laws of a general nature arecodified in theConsolidated Laws of New York.[6][8]
TheNew York State AssemblyLegislative session is a cycle that takes place from the first month of the year up until a budget has been published by both houses. According to the New York State Legislative Calendar, session convenes January 9th throughout June 19th.[9] Budget deadline is the last week of March, but historically it has dragged on 'til the month of August and can even surpass that if the Senate and the Assembly fails to compromise. During session both houses work both together and independently to introduce bills and propose changes or support for the governor's executive budget.
During the legislative session for both houses (Senate and Assembly):
TheNew York State Unified Court System interprets and applies thelaw of New York, ensuresequal justice under law, and provides a mechanism fordispute resolution. The court system in New York tends to produce mild confusion for outsiders.[10][11] In general, the judicial system is composed of the trial courts, consisting of the superior courts and the local courts, and the appellate courts.[12]
The appellate courts are the:[12]
The superior courts are the:[12]
And the local courts:[12]
Thehighest court of appeal is theCourt of Appeals (instead of the "Supreme Court") whereas the primaryfelonytrial court is the County Court (or theSupreme Court in New York City). The Supreme Court also acts as the intermediate appellate court for many cases, and the local courts handle a variety of other matters and are the starting point for all criminal cases. The New York City courts make up the largest local court system. The system is administered by thechief judge of the Court of Appeals, also known as the chief judge of New York, thechief administrative judge, the Office of Court Administration and other agencies.
The state is divided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, which are allmunicipal corporations with their own government that provide most local government services.[13] Whether a municipality is defined as a city, town, or village is not dependent on population or land area, but rather by the form of government selected by the residents and approved by the New York State Legislature.[14][15][16] Each such government is granted varyinghome rule powers as provided by the New York Constitution,[17] and a local law has a status equivalent with a law enacted by the Legislature (subject to certain exceptions and restrictions).[18] New York also has various corporate entities that serve single purposes that are also local governments, such as school and fire districts as well asNew York state public-benefit corporations, frequently known asauthorities ordevelopment corporations.[17] New York has 62 counties,[19][20] which are subdivided into 932 towns[16] and 62 cities;[15] it also has 10Indian reservations.[21] In total, the state has over 3400 active local governments and over 4200 taxing jurisdictions.[22][23]
In 1898, whenNew York City was consolidated into its present form, all previous town and county governments within it were abolished in favor of the present fiveboroughs and unified, centralized city government (theNew York City government).[24]
Native Americans' governments are significantly independent of the state and its local governments. New York cannot interfere withtribal self-government, but may regulate conduct on tribal territory concerning non-Native Americans.[25] For example, federal law forbids states and local authorities to tax Indian lands; however, the state can and does tax sales of cigarettes to non-tribe members on tribal territory.[25][26]
absurdly complex a court system that is difficult to understand, hard to navigate and a burden to administer.
Officers of the state of New York | ||
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| Current offices |  | |
| Defunct offices |
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