New York

New York elects a relatively short slate of statewide officials, which helps make its Governor one of the strongest in the country. Only four offices are elected statewide: the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, and the Comptroller (the state’s independently elected fiscal watchdog and auditor). Everything else in the executive branch, agency commissioners, the budget director, and so on, is appointed by the Governor.

The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are nominated separately in party primaries but then run together as a single ticket in the general election, so they always end up from the same party. The Comptroller and Attorney General, elected on their own, are the main independently elected checks inside the executive branch.

The result is a concentrated executive: with few rival elected officials and command of the agencies, the New York Governor sets the agenda for the whole branch.

The New York State Legislature is bicameral: a 63-seat State Senate and a 150-seat State Assembly, for 213 members, all serving two-year terms with no term limits. It is a full-time, professional body, among the highest-paid in the country, with a base salary around $142,000 a year, supported by substantial staff.

The Legislature convenes every January and works through much of the year. Despite its size and professionalism, it operates in the shadow of an unusually powerful executive budget process, which shapes how and when much of its most important work gets done.

An ordinary bill is introduced, sent to committee, and, if it advances, voted on the floor of each chamber before going to the Governor, who may sign it, veto it, or (in New York’s version) see it become law if not acted on. The Legislature can override a veto with two-thirds of each chamber.

The budget is where New York is distinctive. Under a strong "executive budget" system reinforced by the state’s highest court, the Governor drafts the budget and the Legislature has only limited power to change it, lawmakers can cut or strike items but generally cannot add or rewrite spending as freely as in other states. That hands the Governor enormous leverage, because unrelated policy is often folded into the must-pass budget bills. New York has no citizen initiative: voters cannot write statutes directly. Constitutional amendments must pass two separately elected Legislatures and then be ratified by the voters, and every twenty years New Yorkers are asked whether to hold a constitutional convention.

The New York Governor appoints the heads of essentially the entire executive branch, names judges to the state’s highest court, can call special sessions, holds broad emergency powers, and wields a line-item veto over appropriations. Above all, the executive budget power makes the Governor the dominant force in state fiscal policy.

The Governor also holds full clemency power, pardons, commutations, and reprieves, without needing a board’s approval, in contrast to states like Georgia, Texas, and Florida. The principal checks are the two independently elected fiscal and legal officers (the Comptroller and Attorney General) and the two-thirds legislative override, rather than a crowded field of rival executives.

New York’s court names are famously backwards compared to the rest of the country. The trial court of general jurisdiction is called the "Supreme Court," while the state’s actual highest court is the Court of Appeals. Judges of the Court of Appeals are appointed by the Governor from a list prepared by a nominating commission and confirmed by the State Senate, serving 14-year terms; many lower-court judges, including Supreme Court justices, are elected. Knowing that the "Supreme Court" is the bottom, not the top, is the key to reading anything about New York courts.