176th New York State Legislature


The 176th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to July 6, 1966, during the eighth year of Nelson Rockefeller's governorship, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1938, re-apportioned in 1953, 58 Senators and 150 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts for two-year terms. The senatorial districts consisted either of one or more entire counties; or a contiguous area within a single county. The Assembly districts consisted either of a single entire county, or of contiguous area within one county.
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down several decisions establishing that State legislatures should follow the One man, one vote rule to apportion their election districts. A special Federal Statutory Court declared the New York apportionment formulae for both the State Senate and the State Assembly unconstitutional, and the State Legislature was ordered to re-apportion the seats by April 1, 1965. The court also ruled that the 1964 legislative election should be held under the 1954 apportionment, but those elected could serve only for one year, and an election under the new apportionment should be held in November 1965. Senators John H. Hughes and Lawrence M. Rulison questioned the authority of the federal court to shorten the term of the 1964 electees, alleging excessive costs for the additional election in an off-year.
The lame-duck Legislature of 1964 met for a special session at the State Capitol in Albany from December 15 to 31, 1964, to re-apportion the legislative districts for the election in November 1965, gerrymandering the districts according to the wishes of the Republican majority before the Democrats would take over the Legislature in January. The number of seats in the State Senate was increased to 65, and the number of seats in the Assembly to 165. County representation was abandoned in favor of population-proportional districts, and the new Assembly districts were numbered from 1 to 165.
On February 1, 1965, the United States Supreme Court confirmed the Federal Statutory Court's order to elect a new New York Legislature in November 1965.
On April 14, 1965, the New York Court of Appeals declared the apportionment of December 1964 as unconstitutional, citing that the New York Constitution provides expressly that the Assembly shall have 150 seats, not 165 as were apportioned. The court also held that, although the constitutional State Senate apportionment formula provides for additional seats, the increase from 58 to 65 was unwarranted.
On May 10, the Federal Statutory Court ordered that the election on November 2, 1965, be held under the December 1964 apportionment, and that the Legislature thus elected re-apportion the seats again by February 1, 1966.
On August 24, it was clarified that, if the Governor and Legislature should not have enacted a new apportionment by February 1, 1966, then the courts should draft a new apportionment for the next election.
On October 11, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed four appeals against the ruling of the Federal Statutory Court, and upheld the election of a new New York Legislature on November 2.
At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Liberal Party and the Conservative Party also nominated tickets.

Elections

The 1965 New York state election, was held on November 2. The only statewide elective office up for election was a seat on the New York Court of Appeals. Republican Kenneth B. Keating defeated Democrat/Liberal Owen McGivern and Conservative Henry S. Middendorf, Jr. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Judge of the Court of Appeals, was: Republicans 3,106,000; Democrats 1,824,000; Liberals 208,000; and Conservatives 207,000.
Three of the five women members of the previous legislature—Assemblywomen Shirley Chisholm, a preschool teacher of Brooklyn; Constance E. Cook, a lawyer of Ithaca; and Dorothy H. Rose, a high-school teacher and librarian of Angola—were re-elected. Gail Hellenbrand, of Brooklyn, was also elected to the Assembly.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 5, 1966; and adjourned on July 6.
Anthony J. Travia was re-elected Speaker.
Earl W. Brydges was elected Temporary President of the State Senate.
On January 14, the New York Court of Appeals moved the deadline for the new legislative apportionment from February 1 to February 15.
On February 23, the Court of Appeal appointed a commission of five members to map out new districts because the Republican-majority Senate and the Democratic-majority Assembly could not agree on a new apportionment. The commission was chaired by President-elect of the American Bar Association Orison S. Marden, of Scarsdale, who was not affiliated with any party and was deemed politically independent. The other members were Ex-Judges of the Court of Appeals Bruce Bromley, of Manhattan, and Charles W. Froessel, of Queens; Ex-Republican State Chairman Edwin F. Jaeckle, of Buffalo; and Robert B. Brady, the Counsel to the Joint Legislative Committee on Re-Apportionment.
On March 14, the apportionment draft was submitted to the Court of Appeals.
On March 22, the Court of Appeals accepted the apportionment as drafted, thus becoming the law, without the need of legislative approval. The number of seats in the State Senate was reduced to 57, and the number of seats in the Assembly to 150.

State Senate

Senators

The asterisk denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Jerome Schutzer, Anthony B. Gioffre, Theodore D. Day and James F. Hastings changed from the Assembly to the Senate at the beginning of the session. Assemblyman William J. Ferrall was elected to fill a vacancy in the Senate.
Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on..."

Employees

Assemblymen

The asterisk denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature.
Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on..."
DistrictAssemblymenPartyNotes
1stPerry B. Duryea, Jr.*RepublicanMinority Leader
2ndPeter J. CostiganRepublican
3rdCharles J. MeltonDemocrat
4thPrescott B. Huntington*Rep./Cons.
5thRichard DiNapoliRepublican
6thJohn G. McCarthy*Republican
7thWilliam L. BurnsRepublican
8thFrancis P. McCloskeyRepublican
9thMartin GinsbergRep./Lib.
10thStanley HarwoodDem./Lib.
11thJoseph M. ReillyRepublican
12thMilton JonasRepublican
13thArthur J. KremerDem./Lib.
14thJohn S. Thorp Jr.*Dem./Lib.
15thJoseph M. MargiottaRepublican
16thJohn E. Kingston*Republican
17thAbe SeldinRepublican
18thGeorge J. Farrell, Jr.Republican
19thRobert M. BlakemanRepublican
20thEli WagerDemocrat
21stJ. Lewis Fox*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Public Service
22ndKenneth N. Browne*Dem./Lib.
23rdRobert J. HallRep./Cons.
24thMoses M. Weinstein*Dem./Lib.Majority Leader
25thFrederick D. Schmidt*Democrat
26thLeonard P. StaviskyDem./Lib.
27thJohn T. GallagherRepublican
28thMartin Rodell*Dem./Lib.
29thJoseph J. KunzemanRepublican
30thHerbert J. MillerDemocrat
31stAlfred D. LernerRep./Cons.
32ndStanley J. PryorDem./Lib.
33rdJules G. Sabbatino*DemocratChairman of Commerce and Navigation
34thThomas V. LaFauci*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Civil Service
35thSidney LebowitzDem./Lib.
36thThomas P. Cullen*Dem./Lib.
37thJoel R. BirnhakDemocrat
38thAnthony J. Travia*Dem./Lib.re-elected Speaker
39thSamuel D. WrightDemocrat
40thAlfred A. Lama*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Banks
41stLeonard E. Yoswein*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Charitable and Religious Institutions
42ndLawrence P. Murphy*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Mortgage and Real Estate
43rdMax M. Turshen*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Judiciary
44thStanley Steingut*DemocratChairman of General Laws
45thShirley Chisholm*Dem./Lib.
46thBertram L. Baker*Dem./Lib.Majority Whip; Chairman of Education
47thJoseph R. Corso*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Codes
48thEdward A. Kurmel*Democrat
49thHarold W. Cohn*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Internal Affairs
50thGilbert RamirezDemocrat
51stGail HellenbrandDemocrat
52ndGeorge A. Cincotta*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Excise
53rdBertram L. Podell*DemocratChairman of Local Finance
54thNoah Goldstein*DemocratChairman of Canals and Waterways
55thHerbert H. MarkerDemocrat
56thSalvatore J. Grieco*Democrat
57thLouis Kalish*DemocratChairman of Insurance
58thJoseph Kottler*DemocratChairman of Penal Institutions
59thDominick L. DiCarlo*Republican
60thRobert F. Kelly*Republican
61stJames H. Tully, Jr.Democrat
62ndWilliam J. Ferrall*Democratresigned on January 6, 1966, to run for the State Senate
62ndWilliam J. GiordanoDemocraton February 8, 1966, elected to fill vacancy; result certified on February 21
63rdJoseph J. Dowd*DemocratChairman of Printed and Engrossed Bills
64thLucio F. Russo*Republican
65thEdward J. Amann Jr.*Republican
66thLouis DeSalvio*DemocratChairman of Military Affairs
67thJerome W. Marks*Democrat
68thJerome Kretchmer*Democrat
69thWilliam F. Passannante*DemocratChairman of Claims
70thPaul J. Curran*Republicanon December 23, 1966, appointed as NYC Legislative Representative
71stJohn M. Burns*Republican
72ndS. William Green*Republican
73rdAlbert H. Blumenthal*DemocratChairman of Health
74thDaniel M. Kelly*DemocratChairman of Taxation
75thJose Ramos-Lopez*DemocratChairman of Aviation
76thFrank G. Rossetti*DemocratChairman of Labor and Industries
77thPercy E. Sutton*Democraton September 13, 1966, elected Borough President of Manhattan
78thDavid DinkinsDemocrat
79thMark T. Southall*Democrat
80thOrest V. Maresca*DemocratChairman of Affairs of the City of New York
81stJohn J. Walsh*DemocratChairman of Public Institutions
82ndKenneth J. LymanDemocratdied on July 28, 1966
83rdRobert GarcíaDemocrat
84thHerbert J. FeuerDemocrat
85thSeymour Posner*Dem./Lib.
86thEdward A. Stevenson, Sr.Democrat
87thSalvatore R. AlmeidaDemocrat
88thAlexander Chananau*Dem./Lib.Chairman of Cities
89thRobert AbramsDem./Lib.
90thMelville E. Abrams*DemocratChairman of Social Welfare; died on October 10, 1966
91stBurton Hecht*Dem./Lib.
92ndAnthony J. StellaDem./Lib.
93rdAnthony J. MercorellaDem./Lib.
94thFerdinand J. Mondello*DemocratChairman of Revision
95thBenjamin AltmanDem./Lib.
96thAlvin M. SuchinRepublican
97thGordon W. BurrowsRepublican
98thThomas J. McInerney*Democrat
99thGeorge E. Van Cott*Republican
100thJoseph R. PisaniRepublican
101stWarren J. SinsheimerRepublican
102ndRichard A. Cerosky*Republican
103rdPeter R. BiondoRepublican
104thStephen G. Doig, Jr.Democrat
105thJoseph T. St. Lawrence*Democrat
106thDaniel Becker*Republican
107thWillis H. Stephens*Republican
108thVictor C. Waryas*Democrat
109thKenneth L. Wilson*Republican
110thJohn S. McBrideRepublican
111thClarence D. Lane*Republican
112thHarvey M. Lifset*DemocratChairman of Ways and Means
113thFrank P. Cox*DemocratChairman of Public Printing
114thDouglas HudsonRepublican
115thLawrence E. Corbett Jr.*Republican
116thJohn F. Kirvin*Democrat
117thClark C. WempleRepublican
118thStanley L. Van Rensselaer*Republican
119thRichard J. Bartlett*RepublicanMinority Whip
120thLouis Wolfe*Democrat
121stVerner M. Ingram*Republican
122ndDonald J. Mitchell*Republican
123rdDonald A. Campbell*Republican
124thEdwyn E. Mason*Republican
125thGeorge L. Ingalls*Republican
126thFrancis J. Boland, Jr.Republican
127thLouis H. Folmer*Republican
128thHarold I. Tyler*Republican
129thWilliam R. SearsRepublican
130thEdward A. HannaDemocrat
131stDonald L. TaylorRepublican
132ndEdward F. Crawford*Republican
133rdJames J. Barry*Democrat
134thJohn H. Terry*Republican
135thMortimer P. GallivanDemocrat
136thPhilip R. Chase*Republican
137thGeorge M. Michaels*DemocratChairman of Agriculture
138thConstance E. Cook*Republican
139thL. Richard Marshall*Republican
140thCharles D. Henderson*Republican
141stFrederick L. Warder*Republican
142ndJoseph C. Finley*Republican
143rdDonald C. ShoemakerRepublican
144thHastings S. Morse, Jr.Republican
145thS. William Rosenberg*Republican
146thJames M. WhiteRepublican
147thJames E. PowersDemocrat
148thCharles F. Stockmeister*DemocratChairman of Conservation
149thJames L. Emery*Republican
150thFrank Walkley*Republican
151stV. Sumner CarrollRepublican
152ndGregory J. Pope*Democrat
153rdLloyd J. LongRepublican
154thJames T. McFarlandRepublican
155thChester R. HardtRepublican
156thFrancis J. Griffin*Democrat
157thArthur Hardwick, Jr.*Democrat
158thStephen R. Greco*DemocratChairman of Pensions
159thCharles E. HoggRepublican
160thAlbert J. Hausbeck*DemocratChairman of Affairs of Villages
161stJohn B. Lis*DemocratChairman of Motor Vehicles
162ndJulius Volker*Republican
163rdDorothy H. Rose*Democrat
164thJess J. PresentRepublican
165thA. Bruce Manley*Republican

Employees