State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky on Lessons From Albany

State Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (D - Queens County, Higher Education Committee Chair) has been serving in the upper chamber of the New York State Legislature since 1999. In the three decades since, Stavisky has witnessed all of the unique elements that make the New York State Capitol incomparable to any other state legislature in the country. Through the years, state Sen. Stavisky has focused much of her legislative agenda on social justice, education, and healthcare.

We sat down with the state senator for a Q&A to unpack the biggest moments of her time serving in the upper chamber, what brought her to state politics, her strategy to gain support for her legislative agenda and her advice for the younger generation of Albany politicos.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

From your purview, what have been your most significant legislative contributions that you’re most proud of since you were first elected to the legislature back in 1999?

We were in the minority in the [state] Senate for the most part, much of the time. It wasn't until January 1, 2019, that we took the majority and we were able to pass so many really important bills, and the governor signed them; whether it be in terms of human rights, marriage equality - well, that was a little earlier - but we passed legislation in higher education. The first bill I passed from out of the committee was a ban on conversion therapy for the LGBTQ community. It prohibited psychologists from forcing people under the age of 18 to undergo conversion therapy from gay to straight. The second bill that to me [was] extremely important, was the Jose Peralta bill for students with green cards, allowing them to be eligible for TAP and we haven’t stopped.

Can you help us understand how you first got interested and involved in working in politics? Was this a career path that you’d always dreamed of getting into when you were younger? 

I was a high school teacher teaching social studies and other subjects in the New York City schools and I got married. When we moved to Queens, my husband [former State Sen. Leonard Stavisky] was a college professor. He had an undergraduate degree from City College and a master's and a PhD in American history from Columbia. His field of study was black history, and he had also worked as a researcher, originally, and then as Chief of Staff for a citywide elected official - what was then called the president of the New York City Council. So he got involved in politics, but then he went back to the classroom when we were married, but we moved into a community, and one thing led to another, and they asked him to run for the Assembly, and they thought he was just going to be a token opposition in a Democratic primary, but he won. He worked hard. I had never been involved in a campaign, but I learned. Then I learned to not say anything until I understood what was going on. One thing led to another. He was elected to the Assembly, eventually chaired the Assembly Education Committee, and they would send me out to community groups. I was never on the payroll to talk about the school aid formula, and then I began to work with folks in the community on forming a senior center, and I did other things like that. I became more and more involved, and I was never on the payroll. But when my son was old enough, I came to Albany with my husband because we enjoyed doing things together -  going out to dinner like normal people - and then he moved to the Senate. 

In 1999 he passed away and I was making funeral arrangements. I wasn't thinking about running for office. The then-borough president of Queens, who was not a political appointee, she had risen through the community as a PTA mother and so forth. She called me and said “you're running for Leonard's seat”. And then one thing led to another very quickly, and I was elected to the state Senate to succeed my husband. But this was never in my thoughts, but there was a group of women who helped, and that's how I wound up in the state Senate.

So what is the secret to having a good connection [or relationships] with people?

I treat people the way I would like them to treat me. No there's no secret. Being yourself! 

As a lawmaker, you pass a lot of bills. So what is the challenge with doing that work?

Finding the money to pay for the things we like to do. It’s very difficult to convince. I mean sometimes it takes long hours, but hopefully we will find the money to do the things that we think are important. 

How do you get other lawmakers to support your bills or stand by your side and support you? Did you find that to be a big challenge?

Sometimes, but you have to build coalitions. You have to work with people [and] understand what their needs are. For example, She's now in the Senate, but Sen. [Patricia] Fahy was in the Assembly last year, and she chaired the Higher Education Committee, and I know what her interests were. She and I would talk all the time, and we protected each other. We discussed things, and I knew that when I said something it would not be discussed with anybody. We mesh things out. We tried to see where we can agree. Many things we didn't agree on, but there were many things we did. This year we have a new chair, and as luck would have it, she's from my county, and we share a district.

What do you think is the biggest issue in New York State politics right now? 

There's no question - the potential cuts from Washington. It's going to be devastating. I don't think any other way around it because President Trump said he was going to do these things. This is what people wanted to hear, they voted for him and we have to deal with the results.

How does being a female lawmaker impact the way you approach legislating? How do you make decisions? What is your relationship working with male lawmakers?

I think it has a great impact, I must tell you. Women, there were very few women when I was elected. I was the first woman from Queens County ever in the history of New York State, ever elected to the State Senate. It's got over a couple million people [and] it's the second largest in the city. But women tend to be more collaborative. We work with other people. We don't “grandstand” the way men sometimes will have a macho kind of image. Instead, women work collaboratively. We understand these issues and we try to resolve them. 

I try to make decisions after thinking. I try not to act [when] I may be angry, and that's when I say “stop, this is not the time to make a decision”. And I wait, and we try to figure out what's the best way to accomplish what we want to accomplish. 

When you have the votes - and we do, we're in the majority but we tried to consider their feelings so that everybody can claim credit because quite frankly, what we've done for Higher Education, they know who did it. People know.

It was a long journey to becoming a state senator. What advice would you give to the younger generation of lawmakers and people who have an interest in politics?

I think first of all, they should get involved in school activities. That's a great place to start - school clubs [and] school debating groups. They can get involved in the community in which they live. They have religious groups, clubs, churches, mosques, synagogues, clubs, etc. In New York City, we have the community planning boards. They can get appointed to the community board. They have to contact their member of the city council.

Tom DiNapoli started as a student. He got elected to the school board in Nassau County where he was going to school, and from there he then got involved in the community. And when the Assembly member retired [May Newburger], he was elected to the Assembly. And then when there was a vacancy for controller, he was elected to controller, but he started as a student and he got elected to the school board. 

And there were other groups too. Incidentally, they have NYPIRG [New York Public Interest Research Group], which is very oriented for students, they are involved, particularly in environmental issues, and that's another good place to start.

What are some important things that you always want to remember as a state lawmaker?

It's the people we represent that count. How are we going to help our constituents? I represent a heavily immigrant community. In New York City, City College was founded with the mission to educate at that time, it was just the sons of immigrants, and that's what we're doing today. We're educating the sons and daughters of immigrants. I represent a large Asian constituency from all over - from both India to Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Korea and North Africa. We're a country of immigrants.

You’ve passed a lot of bills centered around education and healthcare. What is the most significant bill that you’ve passed where it was a long journey to get them over the legislative finish line?

The Higher Education Committee not only deals with colleges and universities, but we deal with both the licensing and what we call the scope of practice. It means what they can do and can't do for the 56 professions that are licensed by the State Education Department. Many of them are in the healthcare field, but it includes everything from engineering to landscape architecture to geology. I have a bill now licensing genetic counseling counselors. 

I think the legislation we did about two years ago [that involved] nursing students. They had in the past a requirement that a third of their education had to be face to face with patients. My legislation said - and this was during the [COVID-19] pandemic - that's sometimes difficult, but mannequins and 3-D technology can be allowed. It enabled each nursing school in the state to admit more students, and that's had a really significant impact, because we have a serious nursing shortage, and we have a shortage of people to teach nursing, and this allows them to use the mannequins and so forth, and that has really changed the playing field.

If you could change one thing about New York State, what would it be?

I would love to be able to say that we can fund the programs that we want to fund, which means having big business pay its fair share of taxes so that we have enough funding to do the things that we want to do. I would close the loopholes that allowed Donald Trump not to pay tax. That was outrageous. He's making money, and he should be paying tax, and we need to help those who are less affluent.

What were some of the most outlandish things that you’ve witnessed while serving in the state Senate?

In 2009, we had four democratic state senators who took over the Senate in a sense. The press referred to them as the “four amigos”. Three of them got into trouble with the law afterwards, but they forced the state Senate to come to a literal standstill. There was chaos. There were fights over turning on the lights. We took turns sitting in the chair in the chamber so that the opposition couldn't conduct business. I mean, this was a terrible period, and it was called “The Coup”. It was a coup by four renegade Democrats who were looking for power and found the Republican majority, and together, they caused chaos. Fortunately, two years later - and I am so proud - we changed leadership. Andrea Stewart-Cousins became our minority leader and we became very cohesive. Right now, our conference is made up of people who think differently and they come from different backgrounds, yet we work together and I think we are showing that today [with] the results. But I think the senate coup was a terrible experience. It really was in 2009 at the end of session in June, it was horrendous. I just can't tell you how bad. As a result, things are so good in terms of our ability to work together in the Senate, and we have a lot more women.

Lastly, what are your fondest memories as a lawmaker? Happy or sad.

I would say January 1, 2019 when we came up to Albany in the majority. When I took my husband's seat in November of 1999 that was not a happy time, and it was difficult. But you know, you do what I have a whole wall [dedicated to my husband that my staff put together]. But you know, you overcome it, you deal with the problems, and you look for good times. The happiest times also are the friendships we have.