+ − Contact Information
Phone: (518) 455-4841
Office Address:
LOB 717
Albany, NY 12248
+ − Biography
Deborah Glick, a lifelong resident of New York City, has lived in Greenwich Village for over 30 years. A graduate of the City University of New York’s Queens College, she received a Master of Business Administration degree from Fordham University. Deborah owned and managed a small printing business in TriBeCa before becoming Deputy Director of General Services at the City Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development, where she worked until May 1990.
Deborah's political activism began in college and she is still strongly involved in grassroots organizing. As an elected official, she has focused on civil rights, reproductive freedom, health care, lesbian and gay rights, the environment, housing, higher education, social justice, and funding for the arts.
Deborah is the first openly lesbian or gay member of the New York State legislature. Her legislative victories include passage of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA), which was finally signed into law in December of 2002, and the state-wide domestic partnership registry, which is still awaiting passage. Most recently, Assemblymember Glick’s Hospital Visitation Bill became law in 2004, providing domestic partners the same rights that spouses and next-of-kin have when caring for a loved one in a hospital or nursing facility. She has worked on issues of concern to women for thirty years, including advocating for reproductive freedom, a change in the rape statutes, and women's health concerns. The Women's Health and Wellness Act, a bill that promotes early detection and prevention of certain medical conditions affecting women, including breast cancer and osteoporosis and provides coverage for contraceptives, became law on January 1, 2003.
Deborah is serving her 11th term in the Assembly. During her tenure, she has been a strong advocate for tenants rights and has sponsored and won renewal of the Loft Law. This law brings formerly commercial buildings up to residential code and protects current tenants, many of them artists, from eviction. Deborah has always been a strong proponent of the arts and has consistently advocated for increases in funding statewide because of her conviction that the arts play a crucial role in the economic and cultural life of New York City and New York State. Currently, she is the sponsor of several measures to protect the rights of tenants, as well as legislation to provide a tax credit to renters.
In February 2007, Deborah was appointed Chair of the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee, which oversees all private and public higher education institutions, financial assistance for students, and professional licensing. Deborah also serves on the Ways and Means, Rules and Environmental Conservation Committees.
Deborah previously served as the Chair of the Assembly Social Services Committee, where she worked to protect the interests of New York's most vulnerable individuals who are receiving or participating in government assistance programs. As former Vice-Chair of the Legislative Commission on Critical Transportation Choices, Deborah authored legislation aimed at improving conditions in New York City's mass transit system. She has sponsored legislation promoting pedestrian and driver safety and a phase out of diesel buses to improve air quality in New York City. In 2002, the Legislature passed her graduated licensing bill, which provides a stepped process for young drivers to gain driving experience, prior to receiving full license privileges. It became law on September 15, 2003.
