When the western portions of
Queens County joined
New York City in 1898, the remaining three towns were formed into Nassau County. The Nassau County Board of Supervisors was then established. It was a six-member board, and each member was a government official from the three towns in the county (
Oyster Bay,
Hempstead, and
North Hempstead) and later the two cities in the county (
Glen Cove and
Long Beach). The Town of Hempstead had two voting members. The board used a weighted vote system based on the
Banzhaf power index, meaning the districts smaller in population had near-no representation on the board. In 1993, federal
district court Judge
Arthur D. Spatt ruled the board of supervisors unconstitutional, citing its clear violation of the
Equal Protection Clause for its failure to adhere to the
one man, one vote policy, and failure to represent the minority population. Over a year later, when board members had failed to provide a constitutional successor to the board, the judge said that if they kept ending up in a deadlock and could not choose a new plan, he would make one himself. The board finally chose a plan, creating the Nassau County Legislature, changing the legislative branch of the county for the first time since its establishment, and the first election for the legislature took place in November 1995. The historic first session began on January 1, 1996, with a Republican majority. The plan adopted by the board of supervisors and written into the Nassau County Charter called for a nineteen-district legislature, with at least two black-majority districts. This new plan has had the legislature fluctuating from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority, and vice versa, contrary to the regularly Republican board of Supervisors.
Salary The legislature's salary was made $39,500 in the charter; however that document allows the legislature to raise or lower that salary by law. In December 2015, legislators voted without much debate to raise their salary to $75,000 amidst a county financial crisis; this went into effect the session in 2017. == Composition ==