Brain Drain: Key Assembly Staff Positions Sit Vacant as Pay Stagnates

As negotiations over the state budget reach a fever pitch in March, a visitor to the New York State Assembly offices might see something surprising: cots and sleeping bags.

They’re evidence of a work culture that former Assembly employees say is punishing, all-consuming, and low-paying.

“My kids would call me crying and say, ‘When are we going to see you?’” one former Assembly staffer said. (New York Focus granted this staffer and others quoted in this story anonymity to avoid retaliation from their current employers.)

Central Staff

They never make headlines and are barely known beyond the state Capitol, but much of Albany’s lawmaking process is controlled and managed not by the senators and assemblymembers that New Yorkers elect, but by “central staff” — a platoon of mostly young, low-paid employees who craft policy ideas into potential laws.

Bills often fail simply because they don’t get approval from these staff members, and unless a lawmaker collaborates closely with one of the staffers responsible for the bill’s subject area — such as health or agriculture — it may never reach the floor for a vote.

Hundreds of bills are left behind each year due to a lack of time to navigate this process within New York’s five-month legislative session.

And these central staffers are turning over in droves: The Assembly Office of Program and Counsel is the main central staff unit for analyzing proposed legislation, and about two-thirds of its employees have been there for under five years. Over 90 employees have left in that time span, and some have not been replaced. The size of the office has shrunk from nearly 90 down to 65.

Pay is a big factor, according to interviews with former employees: The average salary for program and council employees is about $71,000, a number that has actually decreased over the past five years, once inflation is factored in.

Meanwhile, the lawmakers over these staffers are doing just fine — having voted two years ago to raise their own pay by $32,000, bringing it to $144,000 a year.

Other government jobs are known to pay better. “Nobody’s gonna quit their job at the Department of Financial Services” to come work as an Assembly staffer, said a former Assembly lawyer who left for another government job, “because they’re just not paying them enough.”

One reason for the low pay: The Assembly’s budget to hire staff has also declined once inflation is accounted for, slipping to $76 million in 2024. This isn’t true of the Senate’s staff budget, slightly increased over the same time span to $82 million and affords staffers higher pay.

‘Problematic’

This brain drain has real effects. Because so many staffers are young with little work experience — let alone subject expertise — they may not have the knowledge necessary to improve bills.

One bill that may have fallen victim to this problem was an eco-friendly proposal to allow for more recycled wood to be used in construction. In a memo reviewed by New York Focus, a central staffer confessed that they “don’t know enough about the issue,” but said that it was “problematic” that the bill contradicted an international standard building code New York uses to regulate construction.

But New York isn’t bound to the international code, which has been frequently used as a baseline rather than the final word. The bill’s sponsors noted in a memo that Washington state, which also uses the same building code, recently adopted a similar regulation.

Still, the central staffer’s critique may have been enough to stop the bill, which passed the Senate but didn’t get a committee vote in the Assembly before the legislative session ended for the year. Assemblymember Anna Kelles, who sponsors the bill, declined to comment.

Lack of staff review and expertise can also hamper the effectiveness of bills that do pass, such as a technical omission imperiling a bill to help sexual assault survivors sue perpetrators, an editing error that helped keep people in jail past their supposed release dates, or a drafting error that dramatically limited the scope of a bill meant to make child care vouchers easier to use.

“Oftentimes, stuff would fall off just because you had no idea who was doing what, or there was no replacement for a staff member until the end of the year,” said a former Assembly staffer.

Missing Attorneys

Few staffers stay longer than five years, and the Assembly can struggle to find replacements. In fact, about half of the Assembly’s program and counsel employees have less than three years of experience.

According to a document obtained by New York Focus, 12 of the 39 Assembly committees or task forces were missing staff lawyers as of March, during the height of New York’s legislative session. Vacant positions included counsel for the housing committee, the health committee, and the social services committee. (Assembly lawyers generally staff multiple committees, so 12 open spots doesn’t mean the team is short 12 lawyers.)

Several committee chairs said that their work has likely been slowed as a result.

“If we had a counsel, would we do a speedier job? Probably,” said Assemblymember Amy Paulin, who added that the health committee she chairs — which is responsible for overseeing the state’s almost $100 billion Medicaid program — hasn’t had a staff lawyer since January 2023.

Exhaustion and Culture

Workplace culture at the Assembly is yet another factor that has contributed to the recent exodus.

The demands of the job can be extreme: Several former staffers described work hours during the legislative session as being regulated by a policy known as “release,” which forbade employees from leaving the office each evening until given the greenlight by senior staff.

Even on more relaxed days during the legislative session, staff might not be released until 8 or 9 pm, a former analyst said. During more action-packed days, staying in the office until midnight or later wasn’t uncommon.

Some lawmakers who spoke with New York Focus sympathized with the staff.

“I feel terrible for them. I usually buy them some alcohol and some chocolate,” said Hevesi, the assemblymember. “But that’s just part of their job description — if you’re going to become a doctor, you know that your residency is going to be really tough.”

Few members of central staff have children. For those that do, balancing family and work can be an impossible task.

“I enjoyed the work,” said a former Assembly staffer. “I would have stayed, but I never got to see my kids. So I had to leave.”

Assemblymembers can get free childcare at a taxpayer-funded day care center in the state Capitol. Their employees, who make far less money, aren’t as lucky: They are directed to a daycare center (just steps away from the free center for assemblymembers) that costs between $250–$315 a week.