New York: Government and Politics
The Government of New York embodies the governmental structure of the State of New York as established by the New York State Constitution. It is composed of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch is the part of the government that has its authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state. The executive branch executes, or enforces the law. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers. A legislature is the law-making body of a political unit, usually a national government, that has power to enact, amend, and repeal public policy. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation. The judiciary (also known as the judicial system
or court system) is the system of courts that interprets and applies the
law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes.
The Governor is the State's chief executive and is assisted by the Lieutenant Governor. Both are elected on the same ticket. Additional elected officers include the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Comptroller.
The New York State Legislature is bicameral and consists of the
New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Assembly consists of 150 members, while the Senate varies in its number of members, currently having 63. 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 a two-thirds majority in favor of overriding in each House. The permanent laws of a general nature are codified in the Consolidated Laws of New York.
The highest court of appeal in the Unified Court System is the Court of Appeals whereas the primary felony trial court is the County Court(or the Supreme 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 including small claims, traffic ticket cases, and local zoning matters, and are the starting point for all criminal cases. The New York City courts make up the largest local court system.
The state is divided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, all of which are municipal corporations with respect to their own governments, as well as various corporate entities that serve single purposes that are also local governments, such as school districts, fire districts, and New York state public-benefit corporations, frequently known as authorities or development corporations. Each municipal corporation is granted varying home rule powers as provided by the New York Constitution. The state also has 10 Indian reservations.
Capital punishment was reintroduced in 1995 under the Pataki administration, but the statute was declared unconstitutional in 2004, when the New York Court of Appealsruled in People v. LaValle that it violated the state constitution. The remaining death sentence was commuted by the court to life imprisonment in 2007, in People v. John Taylor, and the death row was disestablished in 2008, under executive order from Governor Paterson. No execution has taken place in New York since 1963. Legislative efforts to amend the statute have failed, and death sentences are no longer sought at the state level, though certain crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government are subject to the federal death penalty.[164][165][166]
The State of New York sends 27 members to the House of Representatives[167] in addition to its two United States Senators. As of the 2000 census and the redistricting for the 2002 elections, the state had 29 members in the House, but the representation was reduced to 27 in 2013 due to the state's slower overall population growth relative to the overall national population growth.[168] From 2016, New York will have 29electoral votes in national presidential elections (a drop from its peak of 47 votes from 1933 to 1953).
New York is represented by Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand in the United States Senate and has the nation's third equal highest number of congressional districts, equal with Florida and behind California's 53 and Texas's 36.
The state has a strong imbalance of payments with the federal government. New York State receives 82 cents in services for every $1 it sends in taxes to the federal government in Washington.[169] The state ranks near the bottom, in 42nd place, in federal spending per tax dollar.[170]
Since the second half of the 20th century, New York State has generally supported candidates belonging to the Democratic Party in national elections. Democratic presidential candidaten Barack Obama won New York State by over 25 percentage points in both 2012 and 2008. New York City is a major Democratic stronghold with liberal politics. Many of the state's other urban areas, such as Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse are also Democratic. Rural upstate New York, however, is generally more conservative than the cities and tends to favor Republicans. Heavily populated suburban areas downstate, such as Westchester County and Long Island, have swung between the major parties over the past 25 years, but more often than not support Democrats.
New York is important: New York City is the most important source of political fundraising in the United States for both major parties. Four of the top five zip codes in the nation for political contributions are in Manhattan. The top zip code, 10021 on the Upper East Side, generated the most money for the 2000 presidential campaigns of both George W. Bushand Al Gore.[171] New York City is an important center for international diplomacy.[172] The United Nations Headquarters has been situated on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan since 1952.