Sandra Galef (née Risk; born May 7, 1940) is an American politician who served as a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

for 30 years.

Early life and career

Galef was born Sandra Risk in

LaCrosse, Wisconsin La Crosse ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population was 52,680 as of the 202 ...

on May 7, 1940. In 1944, she moved with her family to

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

in New York. She received a B.A. from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

and an M.A. in education from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, and began her career as a teacher in a rural schoolhouse near

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

. Then, Galef moved back to New York, where she worked as a teacher in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coterminous municipality, coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate ...

. In 1963, she married Steven Galef, a former Westchester County legislator and attorney, with whom she had two children; she remained married to Steven until his death in 1998.

Legislative career

In 1980, Galef was elected to the

Westchester County Board of Legislators The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative, policy-making branch of Westchester County, New York. The powers of the Board are enumerated in the county's charter. A key power of the Board concerns finances: appropriating funds ...

, where she represented the 2nd and 9th Districts and served as the minority leader from 1984 until 1992, when she was elected to the Assembly. Galef was elected to the 90th Assembly District and began her term in 1993. During her time in the Assembly, Galef chaired the Real Property Tax Committee, the Libraries and Education Technology Committee, and the Subcommittee for Rural Health, and was a member of the Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Committee, the Election Law Committee, the Governmental Operations Committee, and the Health Committee. In 1997, Galef introduced an amendment to make the language of the

New York State Constitution The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

gender neutral Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, Gender-neutral language, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) ...

. Galef argued that the gendered language of the Constitution was "old-fashioned" and that a change to gender neutral language was "symbolically ... important". New York voters adopted the amendment in November 2001. In 1999, Galef was an early supporter of

charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

in New York. Galef also supported several

good government Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the ...

causes, including measures to build consensus with Republican members of the assembly, campaign finance reform, and staff budget parity between the majority and the minority in the Assembly. In December 2022, Governor

Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; ; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician and lawyer who has served since 2021 as the 57th governor of New York. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she is New York's List of female ...

signed a bill introduced by Galef that allows

city and town clerks A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

to issue a one-day permit to a non-ordained individual to officiate a specific wedding in New York. Throughout her legislative career, Galef hosted two television shows, "Dear Sandy" and "Speakout with Sandy Galef", on

public access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specia ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galef, Sandy 1940 births Living people Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Legislators from Westchester County, New York Politicians from Westchester County, New York Women state legislators in New York (state) Place of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Yonkers, New York Purdue University alumni Curry School of Education alumni 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature 20th-century members of the New York State Legislature 20th-century American women politicians