The 129th New York State Legislature, consisting of the
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate.
Partisan com ...
and the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
, met from January 3 to May 3, 1906, during the second year of
Frank W. Higgins's
governorship
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, in
Albany.
Background
Under the provisions of the
New York Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constitut ...
of 1894, 50 Senators and 150 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts were made up of entire counties, except New York County (twelve districts), Kings County (seven districts), Erie County (three districts) and Monroe County (two districts). The Assembly districts were made up of contiguous area, all within the same county, .
At this time there were two major political parties: the
Republican Party and the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
. In
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, the
Municipal Ownership League also nominated candidates.
Elections
The New York state election, 1905, was held on November 7. No statewide elective offices were up for election this time. Special elections were held to fill the vacancies in the 16th and 24th senatorial districts.
Sessions
The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in
Albany on January 3, 1906; and adjourned on May 3.
James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr. (R) was elected
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
with 106 votes against 34 for
George M. Palmer (D) and 6 for
Thomas F. Long (M.O.L.).
On April 27, the Legislature re-apportioned the Senate districts, increasing the number to 51. The apportionment was then contested in the courts.
The Legislature also re-apportioned the number of assemblymen per county. Nassau County was separated from the remainder of Queens County; Albany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego and Rensselaer counties lost one seat each; Erie, Monroe and Westchester gained one each; and Kings and Queens counties gained two each.
On August 13, the new Senate apportionment was upheld by Supreme Court Justice Howard.
On April 3, 1907, the new Senate and Assembly apportionment was declared unconstitutional by the
New York Court of Appeals.
State Senate
Districts
Note: In 1897, New York County (the boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx), Kings County (the borough of Brooklyn), Richmond County (the borough of Staten Island) and the Western part of Queens County (the borough of Queens) were consolidated into the present-day City of New York. The Eastern part of Queens County (the non-consolidated part) was separated in 1899 as Nassau County. Parts of the 1st and 2nd Assembly districts of Westchester County were annexed by New York City in 1895, and became part of the Borough of the Bronx in 1898.
Members
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature.
Employees
* Clerk:
Lafayette B. Gleason
* Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles R. Hotaling
* Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms:
Everett Brown
Everett G. Brown (January 1, 1902 – October 14, 1953) was an American actor.
Biography
Born in Texas, Brown appeared in about 40 Hollywood films between 1927 and 1953. His roles were small most of the time and most of his film appearances were ...
* Stenographer: James C. Marriott
State Assembly
Assemblymen
Employees
* Clerk:
Archie E. Baxter
Archibald Easton Baxter (December 16, 1844 – October 6, 1925) was a Scottish-American lawyer and politician from New York.
Life
Baxter was born on December 16, 1844, in Port Glasgow, Scotland. In 1850, his father Duncan brought the family to ...
* Assistant Clerk:
Ray B. Smith
* Sergeant-at-Arms: Frank W. Johnston
* Stenographer: Henry C. Lammert
Notes
Sources
''Official New York from Cleveland to Hughes''by Charles Elliott Fitch (Hurd Publishing Co., New York and Buffalo, 1911, Vol. IV; see pg. 351ff for assemblymen; and 365f for senators)
''ODELL CLINCHES GRIP ON THE ASSEMBLY''in NYT on November 9, 1905
''WADSWORTH NAMED BY 75 CAUCUS VOTES''in NYT on January 3, 1906
tates erroneously that "Wadsworth will be the youngest Speaker the Assembly has ever had." The youngest Speaker ever was Edmund L. Pitts in 1867.]
''WADSWORTH'S FIRST DAY BRINGS FIGHT ON RULES''in NYT on January 4, 1906
''SHAKE-UP BY WADSWORTH STIRS ASSEMBLY WRATH''in NYT on January 11, 1906
{{NYLegislatures
129
1906 in New York (state)
1906 U.S. legislative sessions