Statement on 2026 NYS Legislative Session and Transparency, Accountability, Corporate Subsidy Bills

June 8, 2026

Dismal NY Legislative Session Caps Season of Stagnation for Democracy, Transparency, Accountability, Subsidy Reforms

Healthy democracies hold public hearings on bills and do not propose extreme gerrymandering of state Senate and Assembly districts

 

New York’s democracy is stagnating under the weight of big dog special interests maximizing their gains and crushing attempts to make our state government more responsive, transparent, and accountable to the broader public. New York spends far more than most other states, yet, overall, our people are not the happiest, healthiest, wealthiest, or best educated. 

New York’s Legislature passed 759 bills this year, none of which were scrutinized in a public hearing. In contrast, California, a much larger state, passes more bills every year and requires that all bills be considered at a public hearing before passage, and around 90% ultimately are. Public hearings may seem arcane, but shining a bright light on proposed legislation is immensely helpful to the public interest. For example, New York’s Senate and Assembly just voted for a resolution to amend the State Constitution to allow the extreme gerrymandering of state legislative districts. Would they have passed the resolution after a public hearing where it was assailed by concerned citizens and then editorial boards? 

Here’s what happened to Reinvent Albany’s priority bills:

Open Government
FOIL

Judicial Decisions

Accountable Government
Ethics, Lobbying, and Financial Disclosure

Corporate Subsidies

As also noted by NYPIRG, the 2026 legislative session was less productive than prior sessions under Governor Hochul’s term. Only 759 bills were passed by both houses, compared to a high of 1,007 in 2022. This year was also the session with the latest budget since 2016. While Reinvent Albany’s prior analysis showed that the Legislature was passing legislation at an average pace up until May 15th, their progress slowed in the last weeks of session. 

Besides the late budget, one other reason for the lack of productivity could be that the State Senate considered a large number of confirmations during the last week of session. It only considered one appointee before June. As noted by the NY Daily News, the process is often rushed by the Governor, who provides names to the Senate at the last minute. The 2026 session appears to be no different than prior years; In both 2023 and 2021, the bulk of Senate confirmations occurred in June, according to Reinvent Albany’s analysis. 

Late Budget Slowed Legislative Productivity – Particularly in Last Week of Session
As also noted by NYPIRG, the 2026 legislative session was less productive than prior sessions under Governor Hochul’s term. Only 759 bills were passed by both houses, compared to a high of 1,007 in 2022. This year was also the session with the latest budget since 2016. While Reinvent Albany’s prior analysis showed that the Legislature was passing legislation at an average pace up until May 15th, their progress slowed in the last weeks of session. 

Besides the late budget, one other reason for the lack of productivity could be that the State Senate considered a large number of confirmations during the last week of session. It only considered one appointee before June. As noted by the NY Daily News, the process is often rushed by the Governor, who provides names to the Senate at the last minute. The 2026 session appears to be no different than prior years; In both 2023 and 2021, the bulk of Senate confirmations occurred in June, according to Reinvent Albany’s analysis. 

*Assembly bills passed appear lower than the number of two-house bills passed because we used the “Assembly Bills Passed Assembly” search term in the Legislative Retrieval System. This only counts two-house bills that passed the Assembly first. When bills pass the Senate first and move to the Assembly, they are “substituted” for the corresponding Assembly bill.

**Legislature reconvened in July after ending session early in May due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No other special session activity is included.

Click here to view the data of bills passed by the end of session.