City and State: The 2023 Albany Power 100

City & State

May 30, 2023

New York State Capitol Building WALTER BIBIKOW, DIGITALVISION/GETTY IMAGES

The movers and shakers in the state Capitol.

Gov. Kathy Hochul won a full term in office last fall, but the honeymoon didn’t last very long. Progressive Democrats in the state Senate torpedoed her nominee for state chief judge, suburban lawmakers shot down her sweeping housing plan and a standoff with lawmakers led to a state budget limping across the finish line over a month late. Yet, despite these high-profile setbacks, the trailblazing leader did notch some noteworthy victories this session – and, in the grander scheme of things, she remains at the helm of a sprawling state government apparatus that serves a population of nearly 20 million people.

The Albany Power 100 tracks the successes and failures of Hochul and other key power players in the state Capitol over the past year. City & State’s latest ranking of the Albany elite puts a spotlight on state lawmakers, gubernatorial appointees, business executives, labor leaders, advisers, advocates and activists who are vying to shape New York’s future.

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24. Shelley Mayer, John Liu & Michael Benedetto

Chairs, State Senate Education Committee; State Senate New York City Education Committee; Assembly Education Committee

One of the biggest buckets of spending in the state budget each year is allocated to schools, making the chairs of the legislative committees overseeing education critical posts. State Sen. Shelley Mayer of Westchester chairs the Education Committee, while Assembly Member Michael Benedetto of the Bronx is her Assembly counterpart. State Sen. John Liu, the veteran Queens politician who chairs the New York City Education Committee, joined Mayer and Benedetto in a successful push to fully fund Foundation Aid. Mayer and Liu also blocked Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts to drop regional limits on charter schools across the state, instead allowing just 14 “zombie” charter schools within New York City to be reassigned.