Assemblymember Robert Carroll was elected to the Assembly in 2016. He is the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Libraries and Education Technology and serves on the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions; Environmental Conservation; Election Law; and Arts, Parks and Tourism Committees. Since being elected to the Assembly, he has authored and passed 35 bills through the Legislature, 25 of which were signed into law. He has been a leader on environmental legislation, early childhood literacy, election law reform, and public transportation.

Assemblymember Carroll, who struggled with dyslexia himself as a child, has been a leader on reforming the State’s approach to teaching literacy and addressing the needs of children with dyslexia. His Dyslexia Task Force Act, which established an expert panel to create standards for universal screening for dyslexia, evidence-based literacy interventions and professional development for teachers, was the first major piece of dyslexia and literacy legislation ever passed by the legislature. The Task Force issued its final report in December 2024, setting forth a blueprint for reforming the State’s approach to dyslexia and dysgraphia. Assemblymember Carroll secured $250,000 in the Fiscal 2025-26 Budget to start a Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia, which was one of the Task Force’s recommendations, and then successfully passed legislation to enshrine the center in law when signed by the Governor. The Center is a breakthrough in ensuring that the needs of students with dyslexia and dysgraphia are appropriately addressed in New York State.

In 2024, his bill the Dyslexia Diagnosis Access Act bill was passed and signed into law by the Governor. This legislation requires private insurance to cover the cost of neuropsychological exams to diagnose dyslexia and is the first of its kind in the nation. The Fiscal 24-25 Enacted State Budget included important elements of his Right to Read Act, establishing teaching literacy based on the science of reading as the standard throughout the state. Over the past five years he has directed $280,000 to schools in his district in state funding for structured literacy programming, $50,000 to the Brooklyn Public Library to align their adult literacy programming with the science of reading, and has secured $1.3 million in State funding to support the Promise Project at Columbia University, which provides neuropsychological exams and teacher training regarding reading disorders for kindergartners in marginalized and underserved communities in New York City.

He was the prime sponsor of the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), which was included in the State’s 2023-24 Budget and was heralded as the most significant piece of “Green New Deal” legislation passed in the nation at that time. This legislation empowers New York Power Authority to build, own, and operate renewable energy projects according to a strategic plan developed every two years and is a major step in the State achieving the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The legislation also includes labor standards to ensure good paying union jobs and prevent job dislocation that might result from the transition away from fossil fuels. He was the author and prime sponsor of the Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Leadership Act, a first in the nation bill to use the State's purchasing power to prioritize lower carbon concrete. Assemblymember Carroll was also the prime sponsor of legislation promoting the installation of solar panels and energy storage systems (batteries) in New York City through property tax abatements. In terms of reducing carbon emissions, the impact of this legislation is estimated to be the equivalent of taking 173,000 cars off the road for one year.

As a former election lawyer and member of the Election Law committee, Assemblymember Carroll has worked to reform New York’s antiquated voting laws by authoring multiple election law bills that have been enacted into law. These include his bills to lower the deadline to register to vote to 10 days prior to an election and his “wrong church” bill, which stops the invalidation of otherwise valid ballots because a voter appeared at the wrong polling site but the right county and assembly district. His “Golden Day” legislation enables New Yorkers to register at an early voting site on the first day of early voting and then cast a ballot, all in one visit.

A leading transportation and safe streets advocate, Assemblymember Carroll successfully advocated for a dedicated funding stream to fully fund the MTA, passed legislation to take dangerous drivers off the road, and passed the MTA Open Data Act, to bring more transparency to the MTA.He was an early and strong advocate for congestion pricing.

Among his major accomplishments in terms of budget initiatives has been successfully leading the effort to secure $10 million in capital dollars for the Brooklyn Museum and $13.2 million for renovations to Brooklyn Public Library branch libraries, as well as designating significant funding to Prospect Park.

Assemblymember Carroll was born and raised in the 44th Assembly District in Brooklyn and attended PS 230 in Kensington as a child. He is a graduate of SUNY Binghamton and has a J.D. from New York Law School. He currently resides in Park Slope with his wife Virginia and their two children.