Since each member of the legislature represents a specific district, they are especially concerned with addressing the need of their constituencies.  The 150 Assembly members each represent approximately 120,000 people, while the 61 senators have districts containing roughly 290,000 people.  In both cases, legislators provide a variety of constituent services that are an essential part of theirjob.  Legislators maintain an Albany office, and usually have one or two offices in the district as well.  District office staff provide the bulk of the day to day constituency service for most members.  Legislators hold office hours in their districts, and respond to questions and problems that constituents may need to resolve.  College students inquire about financial aid programs, senior citizens may need help with state tax or health programs, and small business owners may need assistance with state loans or in dealing with regulations.  This type of individual assistance is called casework, and occupies a large percentage of the staff work in any legislative office.

While casework normally entails constituents individually contacting their legislator, each representative spends ample time out in the community.  It is not uncommon for a legislator to attend several community events in one day.  A typical day could include a Rotary Club breakfast meeting, speaking at local schools, addressing various civic clubs or groups, and carrying out ceremonial functions, such as groundbreaking for a new college library or senior citizen's housing complex.  Remaining accessible to the constituents in a district is a primary aspect of the representative function that state legislators play.  Legislators also send out periodic mailings to constituents that highlight legislative accomplishments, provide hot line numbers, and offer information about government services that are available.  Especially in a full-time, professional legislature, such as New York, Assembly members and senators are continually responding to, and anticipating, the many needs of their constituents.

At the heart of the legislative process is the making of laws.  Each bill needs to be passed by both the Assembly and Senate, and then signed by the governor in order to become law.  This process involves the interplay of legislators, staff, committees, and the political parties.  In addition, interest groups, constituencies, and the media, all contribute to the process.

Most citizens normally identify lawmaking as an important part of the legislature.  In New York, as in all states, for ideas to become law the legislature needs to approve them first.  In order to undertake this part of the job legislators and their staffs study problems,draft legislation, work with other legislators and interest groups to promote their bills, and ultimately vote for the bills that come before them on the floor of the legislature.  Legislators may work on bills that will affect many citizens across the state, such as criminal 'ustice reform or transportation funding, or only a few people in their district, usually called local bills.  In addition, the budget process occupies a large part of the legislative session that non-nally runs from early JanuaTy until late June.  The legislative process, described further below, is complex and time consuming, and demands considerable attention ftom legislators and staff.

The legislative committees provide important functions for both the institutions of the legislature and individual members.  The New York State Senate has 35 standing committees, while the Assembly has 36 standing committees.  Each committee covers a specific subject matter Jurisdiction.  A chairperson, who is always a member of the majority party, leads each committee, and several other le 'stators from both parties serve on each committee.  In almost all cases for a bill to be voted on by the whole legislature, a committee must vote on it first.  Committees allow the legislature to distribute the workload in an organized fashion.  Since the vast majority of bills are never reported out of committee, the committee system provides a gate keeping function for each chamber of the legislature as well.  Moreover, committee service allows a small number of legislators to become highly knowledgeable on particular issues, and this specialization serves the institutions and its members well.

While the committee system helps the institution of the legislature it also plays important roles for individual members.  Legislators are known to have three goals: meeting constituency needs, making good policy, and earning the respect of their peers.  In selecting committee assignments on which to serve legislators tend to think about their goals.  For instance, a legislator may have a particular policy interest, and committee system allows them to act on this interest.  Senator Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) pursued service on the Children and Families committee, of which he is chair, given his background as an attorney dealing with family court issues.  Senator Velmanette Montgomery (D-Brooklyn), a former child care advocate, was able to continue her interest in that issue by serving on the Child Care committee. Members are also very aware of their constituency needs when they select committee assignments.  Senator John Kuhl, who represents a rural, agricultural district in western New York, is, not surprisingly, a long standing member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.  The last few chairs of the Senate Envirom-nental Conservation Committee have been from Long Island given the many environmental issues of concern there.  In reality, constituency concerns and personal interests often intertwine.  An example here is that Senator Carl Marcellino, Environmental 

Conservation Chair, is a former biology teacher and represents a portion of Long Island.  Since senators serve on several committees and Assembly members serve on approximately three committees, there are ample opportunities for legislators to address their goals through committee assignments.  The fiscal committees, Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance, are especially coveted since they deal principally with budget matters, and allow members to serve all three goals simultaneously.

Political parties play an enormous role in the New York State legislature, and virtually no aspect of life in the legislature is untouched by the parties. Currently, the Assembly has 98 Democrats and 52 Republicans in office, while the Senate contains 36 Republicans and 25 Democrats.  The majority party in each chamber has strong control over the legislative agenda and the apportiom-nent of member resources, such as staff, budget, etc.  In addition, the party leaders dole out committee seats and leadership positions.  Yet in making these decisions party leaders are always cognizant of their needs to maintain a majority and, to a large extent, they work with individual legislators to meet their mutual needs.  In each chamber, majority party members have more staff and budget resources to work with, and it is difficult for minority members to have a substantial impact on policy.  Yet the fact that each party has a majority in one house does provide avenues for the respective minority parties to gain a voice in the legislative process.

The four party components of the legislature--Assembly Democrats, Assembly Republicans, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats--each have a leadership structure. The Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) leads the majority party in the Assembly, and the Assembly Republicans have a Minority -Leader, John Faso (RKinderhook).  In the Senate, Senator Joseph Bnmo is the Majority leader, and Martin Connor serves as the Minority Leader for the Democrats.  Moreover, the majority parties each have a floor leader who "directs traffic", Assembly Majority Leader Michael Bragman fulfills that role in the Assembly, while Senator Dean Skelos, the Deputy Majority Leader, is his counterpart in the Senate.  The Assembly Steering Committee and the Senate Rules Committee are anus of the majority parties that facilitate the legislative agenda and manage bill movement.  Finally, each of the four party units has a caucus or conference in which all members meet to discuss issues, develop strategies, and hash out disagreements among their ranks.  While the strong leadership structure in the New York Legislature is readily apparent, the party leaders know that they are constrained by the needs of their members and the diverse constituencies that exist within each party unit.

The most dramatic aspect of the legislative process is the debating of legislation on the "floor" of the Assembly or Senate.  Floor debate allows individual le 'stators to voice their opinion on a bill, and for the respective parties to engage in verbal combat on the issues facing New York State.  In particular, the most heated rhetoric often comes from members of the minority parties in each chamber since the openness of floor debates allows divergent views to be expressed.  In addition, floor speeches allow legislators to appeal to affected constituencies and key interest groups "le the floor speeches are often dramatic, in reality the powerful nature of the majority party leadership in each chamber means that the fate of most legislation on the floor is predetermined.  Each majority party has the ability to keep controversial legislation off the floor until enough favorable votes can be secured.  At times, a bill will not be voted on since the outcome may be unclear.  In each legislative session, approximately 10,000 bills are circulating throughout the legislative process, yet only 5% of those bills become law.  The vast majority of bills that are voted on receive substantial support and many are passed with near unanimous approval.  A small number of bills each session are hot button items either due to partisan differences, factional splits within one party, or the public nature of the debate.

Individual legislators usually base their vote on one of three factors; party, constituency, and personal beliefs. in reality, those three factors are often mutually districts that contain a majority of their party.reinforcing since most members represent districts that that contain a majority of their party.

Moreover, members usually are in sync with the opinions Of their dist ct on most issues. Legislators also depend on a small number of colleagues who they come to trust over time given the mutual constituencies, beliefs, and friendships that they share.  Interest groups can also play a role in a legislator's vote as well.  On most bills, if there is no conflict between the member's beliefs, party, and constituency, the vote decision is relatively easy.  Yet when conflict emerges between these primary voting cues, the vote choice becomes more difficult. The classic example is when the party position on a bill diverges from a constituency interest in the membees district.  In recent years, rent control, welfare reform, casino gambling, and charter schools have been key issues that provided tough votes for legislators.  Senate Republicans from New York City were in a difficult bind on rent control, yet upstate Democrats in the Assembly found welfare reform to be a troubling issue.  Especially when a key constituency group is aroused on an issue, legislators need to be careful in their voting behavior.

When legislation is complex or especially controversial, the leaders of each majority party usually need to negotiate on aspects of the legislation.  This negotiation often occurs simultaneously with discussion within the party conferences or caucuses on the proposal.  Before a bill is presented to the Governor, the Assembly and Senate both need to pass identical bills.  In the past, ironing out these differences was handled by the respective majority party leaders, yet recently conference committees have begun to be used.  Conference committees consist of members of both the Assembly and Senate, usually from the key committees withjurisdiction over the matter. Many commentators believe this change signals a positive trend toward greater member involvement in the process.

When a bill is passed into law, the policy is far from over. The state agencies, as well as county and local government bodies, need to implement or carry out the law. The implementation process, discussed more in chapter six, is essential in dealing with the complex issues that government addesses today. Legislators engage in oversight of the state agencies, and other implementation factors, in order to make sure that policies and programs are fulfilling legislative objectives and meeting consituent needs. One type of oversight is called fire alarm oversight, since in this case legislators are responding to a problem that has occurred. In this type of oversight legislators learn of a problem that has occurred. Int his type of oversight legislators learn of a problem through constiuents, community organizations or interest groups, ans the media. Once th alarm bell is sounded, legislators attempt tp resolve the issue by addressing particular case involved or drafting a bill that will more broadly handle the problem. Given the hectic schedules of legislators and their staffs, fire alarm oversight is the most common form practiced. Representatives depend on the outside individuals and groups to be their "eyes and ears" in these situations.

On the other hand, police patrol oversight, is more proactive in nature.  Many laws contain sunset provisions in which the law will expire at a specified time, such as 'f not reauthorized. These sunset provisions allow for a reassessment of a two years, I program or policy, and the law can be phased out, modified, or simply renewed based on the legislative assessment.  In other cases, laws have provisions in which the agency responsible for the program needs to submit a report to the le 'slature at a certain time. The New York State legislature established the Administrative Regulation Review Commission that oversees agency rule making to ensure that legislative intent is being carried out, and those affected constituencies are being well served.  These fon-ns of police patrol oversight allow legislators to oversee policy implementation on an ongoing basis rather than when a problem situation emerges.