Research

The legislature can trace its origins to several representative councils that met during the 1640s and 1650s, the period of Dutch rule in New Netherland. The director general of the colony, assisted by an appointed council, held exclusive executive, legislative, and judicial authority. In 1641, representatives chosen by the people met and called for this authority to be limited. Over the next several years, similar meetings were called to represent popular interests before the colony's director general.

The first State constitution of 1777 and all subsequent constitutions designated the governor as the commander-in-chief of the State's armed forces. In 1786 the governor appointed an adjutant general to supervise the militia and all military establishments in the State. The governor was authorized to appoint an adjutant general by the constitutions of 1821 and 1846 in response to the passage of a federal statute of 1792 requiring each state to appoint such an officer.

The Office of Cyber Security originated in part as the Mapping Service Bureau of the Dept. of Transportation. In 2001 part of the Mapping Service Bureau was renamed the Center for Geographical Information and was transferred to the Office for Technology.

The Crime Victims Compensation Board was created by the Laws of 1966, Chapter 894. Chapter 17 of the Laws of 1982 changed the name to the Crime Victims Board. The board consisted of five members selected by the governor, three of whom shall have been admitted to practice law in New York State for at least five years. Chapter 688 of the Laws of 1985 gave the Crime Victims Board authority to make grants to support programs which provide services to crime victims and witnesses.

The origins of the division date to the enactment of the State's Civil Rights Law in 1909 (Chapter 14). This law guaranteed "equal rights in places of public accommodations and amusement" for all people regardless of race, creed, or color, although no specific mechanism was provided for enforcement of its provisions.

The State Insurance Fund was established under the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1913 (Chapter 816) requiring employers to compensate employees disabled by industrial accidents or occupational diseases. Employers subject to the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act were required to establish a self-insurance program, to provide disability insurance through a commercial carrier, or to contribute to the State Insurance Fund. The Fund was administered by the Workmen's Compensation Commission also established by the 1913 Act.

This board was created in 1973 (Chapter 346) to consolidate responsibility for the licensing and regulation of racing and wagering activities that had formerly been exercised by five separate commissions. A State Racing Commission, consisting of three gubernatorial appointees, was created in 1926 (Chapter 440) to issue or deny annual licenses to corporations conducting horse races and steeplechases.

New York's first British colonial governors ruled the province only with the aid of a Council but with no assembly representative of the colonists. Between 1664, when King Charles II granted the conquered New Netherland territory to his brother James, Duke of York, and 1863, citizens increasingly called for the establishment of a general assembly. In 1681, members of the Court of Assizes petitioned the Duke for an Assembly to be elected by freeholders, and citizen unrest was apparent in, among other things, their refusal to pay taxes.

In the context of the early years of the Cold War, as U.S. forces were engaged in a war against communist North Korea and the country braced for a potential attack by the Soviet Union, civil defense became a significant focus at both the federal and state levels. In 1951, a year after the U.S. government passed the Federal Civil Defense Act, New York State crafted its own legislation known as the Defense Emergency Act (Chapter 784, and amended by Chapters 785 and 786).

New York State's education system has antecedents in both English and Dutch colonial education. The Dutch, concerned with providing widespread general education, established tax-supported common schools under church and state control in most of New Netherland's communities. Under the English, who established a system of private or church-supported academies, emphasis was placed on advanced education of the elite and the common school system of the Dutch all but disappeared.