Biography

Assemblyman Rory Lancman represents part of the Borough of Queens in New York City, including all or part of the neighborhoods of Kew Gardens Hills, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Parkway Village, Briarwood, Flushing, Bowne Park, Broadway-Flushing, Station Road, Auburndale, Kissena Park, Flushing Suburban, Hillcrest Estates, Jamaica Hills and Richmond Hill.

Assemblyman Lancman is a graduate of the New York City public school system, Queens College of the City University of New York and Columbia Law School. He lives in the Hillcrest neighborhood with his wife Morgan, whose family emigrated from Iran after the Islamic revolution with most of the Iranian Jewish community, and their three children.

First elected in 2006, Assemblyman Lancman currently chairs the Assembly Subcommittee on Workplace Safety and is a member of the following committees: Majority Steering; Judiciary; Codes; Labor; Banks; Housing; and Cities.

Assemblyman Lancman’s legislative agenda is focused on issues related to workplace safety, homeland security, public safety and government reform.

As chair of the Subcommittee on Workplace Safety, Assemblyman Lancman authored the Juvenile Justice Worker Protection Act, which was signed into law by Governor Cuomo. He has also issued reports on H1N1 In The Workplace, Employee Safety in the New York State Juvenile Justice System, Workplace Violence in New York, Emergency Preparedness and Employee Safety In The NYC Theater District, and Safe Patient Handling. Additionally, the Subcommittee held a hearing on H1N1 in the workplace and a Roundtable on Emergency Preparedness and Employee Safety in the NYC theater district; hosted the first and second annual "Occupational Health Awareness Week" in the legislature; teamed up with the New York State Department of Labor to host the first annual "New York State Immigrant Workers' Rights Awareness Weekend;" and passed legislation in the Assembly and Senate such as the "State Workforce Injury Reduction Act" and the "Taxi Driver Protection Act."

Homeland security legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Lancman and signed into law includes the "Libel Terrorism Protection Act," which protects authors and journalists from politically motivated overseas defamation judgments and which prompted congress to pass similar legislation on the national level; the "Freedom to Report Terrorism Act," which insulates citizens who report suspicious behavior to the police from harassing lawsuits; the "Public Servant Soldier Salary Act," which requires New York City to pay city employees called to active military duty the difference in salary between their military pay and city pay while deployed, guaranteeing soldiers and their families financial stability; the "Non-Profit Homeland Security Preparedness Study Act," which directed the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to study the security needs of New York’s non-profit institutions and to recommend strategies to make them safer; legislation strengthening the security of our state’s infrastructure by mandating the Director of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure to maintain maps of vulnerable sites in New York; and legislation empowering members of the Federal Protective Service, who protect federal facilities throughout New York from terrorist attack, to exercise the same law enforcement powers in New York as do agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Secret Service. Assemblyman Lancman is a sponsor of Speaker Silver's Iran Divestment legislation (A.8668) that would bar companies that invest in Iran's energy sector from doing business with New York State or local governments.

Public safety legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Lancman and signed into law includes the "Public Schools Emergency Alert Act," which requires the New York City Department of Education to establish an electronic emergency alert notification system in public schools; and legislation allowing parents and community members to receive instant e-mail alerts when a sex offender moves into their neighborhood.

Legislation reforming the civil justice system sponsored by Assemblyman Lancman and signed into law includes the "Access to Justice in Lending Act," which gives homeowners who successfully defend against improper foreclosure proceedings the right to recover attorneys’ fees from their banks; and the "Jury Pool Fair Representation Act," which requires the recording of prospective jurors' demographic data to ensure that juries represent a fair cross-section of the community.

Assemblyman Lancman is also the prime sponsor of the "Institutional Investor Recovery Act," which would hold wall street more accountable by amending the state's Martin Act to allow public retirement systems and multi-employer health and welfare plans to sue entities that committed securities fraud.

Legislation improving access to healthcare sponsored by Assemblyman Lancman and signed into law includes the "Hospital Closure Planning Act," which requires the New York State Department of Health to conduct a public forum when a hospital closes and to establish a plan for ensuring the continuity of essential healthcare services in the affected neighborhoods.

Legislation making government more open and accessible sponsored by Assemblyman Lancman and signed into law includes legislation requiring the state to post the New York Code, Rules & Regulations online for easy public access.

Assemblyman Lancman is a leading advocate of political reform, and has sponsored or co-sponsored many such bills, including the "Corporate Political Activity Accountability to Shareholders Act," which would require prior shareholder approval and detailed disclosure of corporate political donations; the "Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011," which establishes a bi-partisan ethics commission and provides greater disclosure of public officials' potential conflicts of interest; the "Redistricting Reform Act of 2011," which would take partisan politics out of the redistricting process; and the main campaign finance reform bill, the "Campaign Finance Reform Act," which would greatly reduce the influence of money in politics by providing for a system of partially publicly financed campaigns.

Assemblyman Lancman has received numerous awards for his service. Among the organizations that have honored him include the Western New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health; the New York State Occupational Health Clinics Network; the Greater New York Hospital Association; American Friends of Magen David Adom; the Sikh Community of the Gurdwara Baba Makhan Shan Lobana; Queens Hospital Center; the Northeast Queens Branch of the NAACP; the Neighborhood Preservation Alliance Foundation; the 102nd and 107th Precinct Community Councils; the Auburndale Soccer Club; the Richmond Hill Block Association; and the New York Filipino American Basketball Association. Assemblyman Lancman was also selected as a 2010 Council of State Governments Eastern Leadership Academy Fellow.

Assemblyman Lancman has also authored numerous opinion articles on issues important to his constituents, including, "New York Can Help Subprime Mortgage Borrowers," Newsday, Nov. 23, 2007. "Iran: Zero Margin For Error," N.Y. Sun, Dec. 5, 2007; "Protecting Our Journalists From Libel Terrorism," Human Events, Jan. 21, 2008; "A Political Frankenstein's Monster," N.Y. Law Journal, Feb. 9, 2010; "Beware Of The Wise Men, N.Y.," Albany Times Union, Mar. 19, 2010; "Court Rings False Note On False Confessions," N.Y. Law Journal, Apr. 11, 2011; "Wall Street’s Sheriff Needs Many More Deputies," Bloomberg Opinion, May 3, 2011; "Don't Reward the Palestinians' 'Lawfare' Campaign with Statehood: Make Peace with Israel First," New York Daily News, September 22, 2011; and "Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel Advocacy," The Jerusalem Post, November 7, 2011.

Assemblyman Lancman is an active participant in the Council on Foreign Relations State and Local Officials Initiative and an Advisory Board Member of the Lawfare Project.

Prior to his election, Assemblyman Lancman served on his local Community Planning Board for over sixteen years and chaired the Queens Hospital Center Community Advisory Board, during which time he led the community's successful fight to rebuild the hospital and prevent its privatization. Additionally, Assemblyman Lancman was a board member of the Queens Jewish Community Council, a board member and chair of the Legislative Committee of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, a board member of the Brandeis Bar Association and a New York City Civil Court Small Claims Arbitrator. Assemblyman Lancman served as an Infantry Officer in New York’s own 42nd Infantry Division. Assemblyman Lancman also teaches local government law as an adjunct professor at St. John's University School of Law.