159th New York State Legislature
← 158th 160th →
New York State Capitol (2009)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1936
Senate
Members	51
President	Lt. Gov. M. William Bray (D)
Temporary President	John J. Dunnigan (D)
Party control	Democratic (29–22)
Assembly
Members	150
Speaker	Irving M. Ives (R)
Party control	Republican (81–69)
Sessions
1st January 1 – May 13, 1936

The 159th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to May 13, 1936, during the fourth year of Herbert H. Lehman's governorship, in Albany.

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1894, re-apportioned in 1917, 51 Senators and 150 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts consisted either of one or more entire counties; or a contiguous area within a single county. The counties which were divided into more than one senatorial district were New York (nine districts), Kings (eight), Bronx (three), Erie (three), Monroe (two), Queens (two) and Westchester (two). The Assembly districts were made up of contiguous area, all within the same county.

At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Socialist Party and the Communist Party also nominated tickets. In New York City, a "City Fusion" and a "Jeffersonian" ticket were also nominated.

The New York state election, 1935, was held on November 5. No statewide elective offices were up for election.

Assemblywomen Doris I. Byrne (Dem.), a lawyer from the Bronx, and Jane H. Todd (Rep.), of Tarrytown, were re-elected.

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 1, 1936; and adjourned on May 13.^[1]

Irving M. Ives (Rep.) was elected Speaker.

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Jacob H. Livingston and Harry F. Dunkel changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."

• Clerk: James J. Reilly

Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."

• Clerk: Ansley B. Borkowski
• Secretary to the Speaker: Truman G. Searle

• Members of the New York Assembly (1930s) at Political Graveyard
• Members of Legislature—1936 in The State Employee (February 1936, Vol. 5, No. 2, pg. 10, 12 and 15)
• Moffat to Get Ways–Means Post in G.O.P. Harmony Move in the New York Post on January 6, 1936
• Moffat Heads Ways and Means Comm. in the Plattsburgh Daily Press, of Plattsburgh, on January 7, 1936
• Republican Bolters Suffer No Reprisals at Hands of Speaker in The Niagara Falls Gazette, of Niagara Falls, on January 19, 1937