New York Government

The Governor of New York is elected by New York gubernatorial election held every four years. New York’s Governor is frequently associated among the Presidential candidature and also six New York Governors had served as the Vice President of the United States.

Under the Constitution of New York-

• The Governor may serve for four years with no term limits.
  
  
• The governor can exercise his/her executive power and functions as the Chief of the state military reserve and the National Guard.
  
  
• He/she can enforce state laws and may exercise line time veto, in which he/she has the power to grant death sentences and the jurisdiction to excuse convicted criminals except in the cases when an official is convicted of unlawful activities or involving impeachment.
  
  

Contact Details:
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Phone: 1-518-474-8390

Office of the Governor of New York

Office hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm

The lieutenant governor of the state is elected for a four-year term.

Under the New York Constitution-

• The lieutenant governor serves as President of the State Senate, and next in line to serve as acting governor in the governor's absence from the state, disability of the governor, unfortunate event of governor's death, resignation or terminated due to impeachment.
  
  
• The lieutenant governor also serves on the State Defense Council, the New York Court for the Trial of Impeachments, and as a member on the Board of Trustees of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
  

Learn more on: Lieutenant Governor of New York

The Attorney General of the State of New York is the highest ranking law enforcement officer for the state. He/she is the head of the Department of Law, and is regarded as both the “People's Lawyer” and the State's chief legal officer.

Contacts Details:
Office of the Attorney General
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341
Phone: (General Helpline)- 1-800-771-7755 (For calls made within New York State) or
TDD/TTY Toll Free Line: 1-800-788-9898

Office of the Attorney General of New York

The New York State Comptroller is the State’s chief fiscal officer and he/she has the responsibility to ensure that tax payers' money is used effectively and genuinely by the State and local governments for the upliftment of the state. Some of his responsibilities include administering and managing the New York State and Local Retirement System for public employees, serving as sole trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, maintaining and administering the State's accounting division and the payroll of the state, updating on State finances, managing and issuing State debt, and conducting audits of State agencies and public benefit corporations.

Contact Details:
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12236
59 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
Phone: 518-474-4044 or 212-383-1600
Email: [email protected]

Office of the Comptroller of New York

New York State Legislature is the body of the state government of New York which is divided into New York State Assembly and New York State Senate. The legislature has the power to make laws base on the Governor's power to annul a bill. The annulment may be overridden by the legislative body if there is two-thirds majority supporting overriding in both the House. Additionally, through majority voting, the legislature also has the power to amend the New York Constitution. The legislative elections are held in November of every even-numbered year and members of assembly and Senate may be elected for a two-year terms. The two legislatures meet in the New York State Capitol in Albany.

The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the state legislature and consists of 150 elected members, each representing an equal number of districts. The member may serve for two-year terms with no term limits. The New York State Assembly is led by the speaker of the house. The speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the assembly who is elected by the majority party members of the house through a House resolution. The Speaker delegates the duty to the members of the house and manages all legislative committee assignments. manages the assignment of committees and the agenda of state business in New York State. Democrat, Sheldon Silver is the current Speaker of New York.

Contact Details of the Speaker of the House:

District Office
250 Broadway Suite 2307
New York, NY 10007
212-312-1420
District Office Directions
Albany Office
LOB 932
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-3791
Albany Office Directions

Learn more on: New York State Assembly

The New York State Senate is the upper house of the state legislature and consists of 63 state senators, each senator is elected for four-year terms with no term limits. The Senate has the power to approve or reject certain appointees to the state cabinet, boards and commissions. The Lieutenant Governor of California is the President of the senate who has the right to vote only to break a tie. The president pro tempore is the second in rank to preside over the senate who is elected by the members of the senate through a majority voting system.

Learn more on: New York State Senate

The New York State Unified Court System applies and interprets laws and regulations to ensure justice in the state. The judicial system of New York is served by numerous efficient professionally trained judges. The New York City Courts form the largest local court system and is managed and administered by the Chief Judge of New York Court of Appeal, the Administrative Board of the Courts, the Chief Administrative Judge and numerous other agencies. The New York Court system is composed of the appellate courts and the trial courts (the superior courts and the inferior courts).

The New York Appellate Court include-

• Court of Appeals
• Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
• Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court
• The County Court
  

The New York State Court of Appeals is the court of highest appeal in the state. The New York State Court of Appeals’ decisions are the binding and persuasive authority on all lower courts and cases. The Court of Appeals comprises of seven judges, including the Chief Judge and six associate judges, all are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms. The Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals is the Chief Judge of the State of New York and is the head of administration of the state's court system.

Appeals are heard from decisions of the Appellate divisions in all civil cases while in criminal cases, appeals are heard from decisions of the Appellate Division, the Appellate Term, and the County Court, based on the type of case and the geographic regions where the case arose. The decisions from Appellate Terms and County Courts are forwarded to be heard in the Court of Appeals. Also in some rare cases, an appeal is directly taken to the court of appeals without hearing in the Appellate Division. The death-penalty law in New York state was declared unconstitutional.

Contact Details of New York Court of Appeals:
New York State Court of Appeals
20 Eagle Street
Albany, New York 12207
Phone: (518) 455-7700

Learn more on: New York Court of Appeals

Appellate Division of Supreme Court is the first appellate court of the State of New York and it is an intermediate court between the New York Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals. The Appellate Division comprises of four departments to handle all administrative purposes.

Appellate term of the Supreme Court is an intermediate appellate court that comprises of justices of the Supreme Court and handles matters from the inferior courts that lies within the designated counties or judicial districts. An appellate term court assist the Appellate Division to reduce the workload and provide a less expensive and convenient approach for the people.

The New York Trail Court comprises of the superior courts and the inferior courts.

The Superior Courts include-

• Supreme Court
• County Court
• Specialized courts – Including claim courts, family courta, and court of surrogate)
  
  

The inferior courts include-

• District Court
• New York City Courts- Criminal Court, Courts of Surrogate, Civil Court, Supreme Court, Family Court, and other tribunals
• City courts
• Justice courts- Including courts of villages and towns
  
  

The New York Supreme Court is the court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System and has the jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases. The Supreme Court is the main felony trial courts in New York city but outside New York city, the Supreme Court primarily has jurisdiction over civil cases. The New York Supreme Court has its various branches in each of New York's 62 counties.

The Supreme Court deals with cases involving monetary disputes in which the monetary limits exceed that of the local courts' jurisdiction, injunction, declaratory judgment actions, equity suits, matters to review proceedings of many administrative-agency rulings, and matrimonial actions (divorce, legal separation, or annulment of a marriage). Almost all orders of the Supreme Court are forwarded to its Appellate Division

The County Court has unlimited legal power over criminal and civil jurisdiction where the amount in dispute is no more than $25,000 ^[1]. The County Courts has jurisdictions over most criminal matters outside the New York city. The local courts deal with matters involving small claims, traffic ticket cases and local zoning matters. Each county outside New York city (with the exception of that of five counties) has a County Court.

The Criminal Court manages matters involving minor misdemeanors, conducts initial court appearances after arrest and preliminary hearings in felony cases.

The Civil Court handles claims involving an amount of up to $25,000, landlord-tenant disputes, and also handles other civil matters forwarded by the Supreme Court.

Specialized New York state courts such as the Surrogate's Court handle certain matters involving the estates of deceased persons and probate matters.

The Family Court deals with matters involving children, families, juvenile delinquency proceedings, child support cases, child abuse, adoption, paternity, and domestic violence. The Court of Claims hears Tort and contract claims against the State of New York.

Contact Details:
New York State Unified Court System
Office of Court Administration, Rm. 852
25 Beaver Street
New York, NY 10004
Phone: 1-800-COURTNY (1-800-268-7869) or TTY: Call 711 (nyrelay.com)

Learn more on: New York Unified Court System

The New York State taxation and revenue is administered and overseen by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF). The department attends to the tax payers’ needs and expectations and focuses in educating the people on taxation. The department manages state and local taxes and fees and assists in fraud detection. The Department's division called the New York State Office of Tax Enforcement administers audit, collections, resolve protests and errors and criminal investigations. 0.375% additional sales tax are levied on all taxable sales made within the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD) ^[2].

Also read:
Family Tax Relief credit
Income Tax Return E-File

Sales and use tax rate varies according to city, county and districts. The New York state levied a standard sales and use tax of 4% plus local tax rate imposed by a city, county, or school district.

Learn more on: Sale tax rate

The real property and related taxes paid by the citizens of New York include Mortgage Recording Tax (MRT), Property Taxes (tax levied on all class 1, class 2, class 3 and class 4 properties) and Real Property Transfer Tax (RPTT) (tax levied on grants, sales, transfers, assignments, or surrenders of real property in New York City)

Learn more on: Property Tax Rate

Corporation tax applied to those associated with business and related activities in New York state, such as general business corporations, S corporations, banking corporations, insurance corporations, transportation and transmission corporations, telecommunications companies, utility services providers, and farmers' cooperatives and agricultural cooperatives.

Other New York taxes levied are-

• Alcoholic beverages tax
• Annual reporting requirement for motor vehicle insurers, franchisors, and alcoholic beverage wholesalers
• Estate tax
• New York City taxicab and hail vehicle trip tax
• Boxing and wrestling exhibitions tax
• Cigarette and tobacco products tax
• Fuel use tax (IFTA)
• Gasoline and similar motor fuel tax
• Hazardous waste tax
• Public safety communications surcharge
• Highway use tax
• Metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax (MCTMT)
• Mortgage recording tax
• Beverage container deposits
• Partnership, real estate transfer tax
• Limited liability company, and limited liability partnership filing fee
• Pari-mutuel and racing admissions tax
• Petroleum business tax
• Waste tire management fee
• Payments to merchants for credit and debit card transactions
• Stock transfer tax
  
  

Some New York City Taxes are collected by New York State instead of New York City, including beer and liquor excise tax, personal income tax, sales and use tax, and tax on owners of motor vehicles

Contact Details:
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance
W A Harriman Campus
Albany NY 12227
Website: http://www.tax.ny.gov/

Telephone Numbers

Mailing Addresses

Under the leadership of the governor of New York, many state agencies operate to manage and administer various departments of the state. The departments work concurrently with the state executive branch to assist the working of the various sectors of the state. The main state agencies of Washington are-

The New York State Education Department works as an important part of the University of the State of New York (USNY) and supervises and manages the workings of all schools, and higher education systems in the state. The department also superintends the state tests and examinations. The department’s mission is to provide world class education and best values to the students to ensure success in education, workplace and in every spheres of life. The department’s various branches include Office of P-12 Education (P-12), Office of Cultural Education (OCE), Office of Performance Improvement and Management Services (PIMS) , Chief Financial Office (CFO), Office of the Professions (OP), Office of Adult Career and Continuing Education Services (ACCES), and Office of Counsel.

Contact Details:
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12234
Phone: (518) 474-3852
Website: http://www.nysed.gov/

The New York Department of Health works efficiently to improve the health and living standards of the community by implementing many health regulating services and policies. The health department also has its sub divisions which provide all vital records and health statistics of the state. The health department also focuses on community and environmental health so that people lives a healthy life.

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) oversees roads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and airways in the U.S. state of New York. The department administers and manages the state’s highways, freeways, railways, airports, hospital heliports and implement primary programs to improve accessibility and convenient mobility with cities across New York and also with neighboring states.
Contact Details:
NYSDOT Main Office
50 Wolf Road
Albany, NY 12232
Phone: (518) 457-6195
Website: https://www.dot.ny.gov/index

New York Department of Labor