Long-Serving Assembly Member Will Retire Next Year
State Assembly member Deborah Glick, who has represented Lower Manhattan in Albany for more than three decades, will not seek reelection when her current term ends next year. “It has been my great good fortune and honor to serve the constituents of the 66th Assembly District for 35 years,” she said. “My constituents have given me the opportunity to take positions I believe in even when they have a different point of view and they have enabled me to be who I am without concern for societal or political constraints.”
“I have always devoted 100 percent of my energy representing this district,” she continued. “With one year left in my term, running for re-election would mean a three-year commitment. I don’t believe I could continue to dedicate 100 percent of my energy beyond next year. It has been a difficult decision at this time, and the time may never be right, but my constituents deserve a representative who can work hard every day for them.”
Ms. Glick, 74, first ran for the Assembly in 1990, when her victory made her the first openly gay candidate ever elected to the State legislature. In the years since, she has chaired Assembly committees on Ethics and Guidance, Higher Education, Social Services, and Environmental Conservation. For most of her tenure, Ms. Glick’s district included northern Battery Park City, along with Tribeca, SoHo, and the West Village. Redistricting in 2022 removed Battery Park City from this jurisdiction, although she continues to represent Tribeca.
In 1990, she recalls, “I was motivated to run as an out lesbian to ensure that LGBTQ youngsters would not feel isolated and ashamed of who they are. By having a seat at the table, I had a key role in banning discrimination of my community and ensuring the right to marriage equality.”
Ms. Glick was the author, prime sponsor, and driving force behind 2019’s Reproductive Health Act, which enshrined into State law the abortion rights first conferred by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. This measure had the effect of preserving these rights in New York even after the Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2022. In 2011, she was one of the catalysts for New York’s Marriage Equality Act, which offered same-sex partners the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples.
Other issues, however, sometimes encountered legislative roadblocks. Ms. Glick worked throughout the Assembly session that ended in June to build support for her Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which would have required companies to develop a packaging reduction and recycling plan. She says, “I fought vigorously right to the end. However, the plastics industry spent a massive amount of money to spread misinformation and, with limited time, undermined the support we had built throughout the session.”
She had more success in shepherding through the Assembly (and the State Senate) legislation that would protect horseshoe crabs, only to see it vetoed by Governor Kathy Hochul. A similar fate awaited her Low Impact Landscaping Rights Act, which sought to guarantee homeowners the right to employ environmentally conscious gardening techniques on their property (such as pollinator gardens and native plants), regardless of homeowner association rules. This measure passed both houses of the State legislature, but was also vetoed by Governor Hochul. Still undecided is whether the Governor will approve or veto another of Ms. Glick’s proposed laws that has been ratified by both the Assembly and the Senate, which (if signed into law) will tighten regulations on the batteries used to power scooters and e-bikes.
Ms. Glick succeeded in enacting new laws to regulate “neonicotinoid” pesticides (neurotoxins that, in addition to harming pollinator insects and birds, have been found in the human body), as well as measures that ban wildlife-killing contests, and the transport of horses for slaughter for human consumption.
Ms. Glick intends to remain busy for the remainder of her term. “With another year left in my tenure, I will work hard to add to my accomplishments, because the world faces serious threats to clean water and clean air,” she says. “ Our very health is threatened by dangerous chemicals in everyday products and ubiquitous plastic products and packaging made from fossil fuels and toxic materials.”