4 Alb. Govt. L. Rev. 601 (2011)
Brian M. Kobl, New York State Assembly Republican Leader
“We The People of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty
God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO
ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION.” So begins the Preamble to the New York State Constitution, the supreme law of the land
governing the Empire State and all of its citizens. This
approximately 50,000-word framework establishes the contours
and parameters of state government, and, like all constitutions,
simultaneously enumerates and constrains the government’s
powers.
New York’s constitution, the state’s central governing
document has been subject to numerous revisions and
amendments; it also establishes and codifies the values that
shape the Empire State’s cultural identity: the promotion of
commerce, the protection of civil liberties and workers’ rights,
advancing public welfare and establishing environmental
safeguards, among others. On a more tangible level, the
document also serves as an “operating manual” for the actual
structure and configuration of state government. It is my
assertion that fixing the substantial and endemic problems that
lie at the core of New York’s dysfunctional public institutions will
require nothing short of the wholesale reformation of the
aforementioned “manual,” to enact the long overdue reforms that New Yorkers have called for, yet the Executive and Legislative branches have continually failed to deliver.