Speaker of the New York State Assembly

Speaker of the New York State Assembly
Seal of New York
Incumbent Carl Heastie since February 3, 2015
Style	The Honorable (diplomatic) Mister Speaker (within the assembly)
Inaugural holder	Walter Livingston September 10, 1777
Formation	New York State Constitution
Succession	Third
Website	[1]

The Speaker of the New York State Assembly is the highest official in the New York State Assembly, customarily elected from the ranks of the majority party.

As in most countries with a British heritage, the speaker presides over the lower house of the legislature. The position exists in every U.S. state and in the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of the Congress. New York's Assembly Speaker is very powerful. Effectively, the Speaker of the New York Assembly has the power to control much of the business in the Assembly and, in fact, throughout all of state government. Through almost single-handed control of the chamber, the Assembly Speaker is able to dictate what legislation makes and does not make it to the floor and will punish the members of his caucus who do not vote in his favor (for example, former assembly majority leader Michael Bragman losing his leadership post after running against speaker Sheldon Silver). Through this and heavy gerrymandering that has given him a near-permanent supermajority, the Assembly Speaker rarely faces any challenge to his post.

Originally, the legislative term lasted one year, from July 1 until June 30 of the next year. The members were elected at the state election in April, but the actual session began ordinarily only in January of the next calendar year, which leads occasionally to some confusion. Only if the governor called for a special session is the Assembly convened earlier. For example, in presidential election years the Assembly convened already in November to elect the presidential electors. The speaker was always elected at the first meeting of the Assembly for the remainder of the term, expiring on June 30.

The State Constitution of 1821 moved the election to November, and the beginning of the term to January 1, and from 1823 on, the legislative term coincides with the calendar year. The assembly convened usually on the first Tuesday in January and elected the speaker, who stayed in office until December 31.