New York state lawmakers over the first six months of the year introduced 14,916 bills. But only a fraction of those proposals stand a chance of becoming law.
State lawmakers so far this year have approved 839 bills that cleared both the state Senate and Assembly and are eligible for final consideration by Gov. Kathy Hochul, according to an analysis released by the New York Public Interest Research Group.
That's a decline from 2022 when 1,007 measures were approved by both chambers, known in Albany parlance as "same as" bills. In 2021, the year coming off an election like this one, lawmakers combined to approve 892 bills that stood a chance of becoming law over the same six-month time period.
All told the Senate approved 1,648 bills this year; the Assembly took up and passed 964 measures.
There are some caveats here: The state Assembly is expected to return as early as next week to take up unfinished business. Lawmakers could also return to Albany later in the year for a special or extraordinary session, boosting output as a result.
And NYPIRG itself notes the numbers only tell part of the story.
"This analysis does not analyze or draw conclusions on the substance of bills or the overall legislative output, since 'productivity' is more complicated and subjective than objective numbers," the group wrote. "It is up to New Yorkers to assess the Legislature’s effectiveness and impact. In order to be informed, however, New Yorkers deserve information on the functioning of their Legislature and we hope that the following information will stimulate dialogue among and between lawmakers and their constituents."