Carl E. Heastie was elected by his peers as the 100th Speaker of the New York State Assembly on February 3, 2015 – the first African-American to lead the 150-member body. Heastie was first elected to the state Assembly in 2000, and has fought for Northeast Bronx families in Albany for nearly 20 years. Before becoming speaker, he served as chair of the Assembly Labor Committee and fought for New York workers, authoring and passing the 2010 Wage Theft Prevention Act. He also served as chair of the Bronx County Democratic Party from 2008 to 2015.

Speaker Heastie has achieved historic victories for hardworking New Yorkers. He fought to make New York the first state to implement President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper program, increased the minimum wage to $15 per hour and raised the age of criminal responsibility. To support families in the 83rd Assembly District, Speaker Heastie was instrumental in the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s 2016 announcement to site a new, state-of-the-art YMCA facility in the Edenwald neighborhood. In addition, he’s secured continued funding for a host of local organizations that lift up Bronx families.

While concrete progress has been made, Speaker Heastie knows there is much more to do. He’s focused on further reforms to the criminal justice system, fully finding our public schools and increased access to quality, affordable health care because it’s a right, not a privilege.  

Speaker Heastie is a proud product of the New York City public school system, which has informed his lifelong advocacy for increased investment in education statewide. Before joining the Assembly, he served as a budget analyst in the New York City Comptroller’s office. Heastie earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and statistics from Stony Brook University (SUNY) and a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY).