Amy Paulin has represented the 88th Assembly District since 2001, and she now chairs the Assembly Health Committee, a post Richard Gottfried held for 35 years before her. After roughly a decade of trying, she won passage of the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which Gov. Kathy Hochul signed in February 2026. Her office says more than 400 of her bills have become law.
So who is Amy Paulin, what has she actually passed, and why do Catholic bishops, disability advocates, and some fellow Democrats keep fighting her? The record runs through a 2006 rape law, legal paid surrogacy, pharmacist-dispensed birth control, a vetoed Medicaid bill, and a long run of easy reelections in south-central Westchester.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Democratic (also on the Working Families line)
- Hometown
- Scarsdale, N.Y. (born in Brooklyn)
- Date of Birth
- Not listed in official biographies reviewed
- Current Position
- New York State Assembly, 88th District; Chair, Assembly Health Committee
- Background
- Former executive director of My Sisters' Place; former Scarsdale village trustee; former president of the League of Women Voters of Westchester
- In Office Since
- 2001
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Paulin was born and raised in Brooklyn, according to her Assembly biography. She earned a master’s degree from SUNY Albany and did doctoral coursework in criminal justice there. She and her husband, Ira Schuman, have lived in Scarsdale for more than 40 years and have three children, Beth, Sarah, and Joey.
Two personal experiences shaped her best known bills. In 2006 she told the Assembly she had been sexually assaulted. “As a former victim of sexual assault, I will live with that night for the rest of my life,” she said, according to an Assembly release. Her sister later died of ovarian cancer in severe pain, which she cites as the reason she carried the aid in dying bill.
Paulin with MTA and local officials at the White Plains Metro-North station in November 2021, marking the station’s renewal project. (Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
AN ADVOCATE BEFORE OFFICE
Before the Assembly, Paulin ran My Sisters’ Place, a Westchester domestic violence agency, according to her biography. She served on the Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees, founded and chaired the Westchester Women’s Agenda, and was president of the League of Women Voters of Westchester and vice president of the state league. She also sat on a county legislative committee on families.
She won the open 88th District seat in 2000 against Republican Max DiFabio and several minor party candidates, according to the state Board of Elections. Since then she has chaired the Assembly committees on Children and Families, Energy, and Corporations, Authorities and Commissions. In January 2023 she succeeded Richard Gottfried, who had led the Health Committee for 35 years, according to City & State.
ELECTION RESULTS
Paulin has rarely faced a close race. She beat Republican Anthony Pilla 35,153 to 15,655 in 2008 and Rene Atayan 22,548 to 14,482 in 2010, according to Ballotpedia. In 2016 she beat Conservative Anthony DeCintio Jr. 42,527 to 7,643. She ran without a major party opponent in 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2020, when she received 49,856 votes.
Republican Thomas Fix Jr., an Eastchester hardware store owner, challenged her twice. She beat him 34,340 to 19,185 in 2022 and 44,946 to 24,065 in 2024, a 30-point margin out of 69,040 votes cast, according to Ballotpedia and state results compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine. PagPol could not find vote totals for her 2000 to 2006 races, and could not confirm whether a Republican is on the ballot against her in 2026.
2024 general election margin, Westchester Assembly Democrats
PaulinWestchester Assembly peers
Winning margin in percentage points over the runner-up in the November 2024 general election. Burdick had no opponent on the ballot. Source: New York State Board of Elections results, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine.
THE DISTRICT AND THE PARTY MATH
The 88th District sits in south-central Westchester and includes Scarsdale, Edgemont, Eastchester, Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Pelham, and Pelham Manor, along with parts of New Rochelle and White Plains, according to her Assembly page. In February 2026 it had 48,277 active Democrats, 19,527 Republicans, and 25,479 voters with no party, out of 96,675, according to county enrollment records.
Democrats outnumber Republicans about 2.5 to 1, and Paulin’s 64 and 65 percent shares against Fix track that edge closely. In Albany, Democrats hold 103 of 150 Assembly seats, more than a two-thirds supermajority, according to Ballotpedia. They also control the State Senate and the governor’s office, so Paulin’s main obstacles tend to come from inside her own party.
COMMITTEES AND LEADERSHIP
Paulin chairs the Assembly Health Committee and serves on the Education and Rules committees, according to her committee page. Rules handles most of the bills that reach the floor in the final weeks of session. She also belongs to the Legislative Women’s Caucus, the Task Force on Women’s Issues, the Asian Pacific American Task Force, and the Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force.
City & State called her an “incredibly effective lawmaker” when she was in line for the Health post. “I pride myself on being someone that can bring all parties to the table,” she told the outlet in 2023. “I have Dick Gottfried on speed dial, so that the advice keeps coming.” The chairmanship gives her control over which health bills advance in the Assembly.
The Scarsdale Public Library on Post Road. Paulin has lived in Scarsdale for more than 40 years and once served on its village board. (Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHAT SHE HAS ACTUALLY PASSED
Her signature law is the Medical Aid in Dying Act, A136, which lets mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live obtain medication to end their lives. It passed the Assembly 81 to 67 on April 29, 2025, and the Senate 35 to 27 that June, according to City & State and WRVO. Hochul signed it with amendments on Feb. 6, 2026, as Chapter 714 of 2025.
The governor’s deal added a five-day waiting period, a required mental health evaluation, recorded requests, and a residency rule, according to the governor’s office. Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal carried the bill in the Senate, and Compassion & Choices backed it. The law took effect Aug. 5, 2026. Every Republican voted no in both chambers, along with more than a dozen Assembly Democrats.
Her earlier laws follow a theme. A12012 of 2006 eliminated the statute of limitations for first-degree rape, and A506 of 2015, the Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act, became Chapter 368 after passing the Senate 62 to 0. Her Birth Control Access Act, A1060A, lets pharmacists dispense hormonal contraception and became Chapter 128 of 2023 after a 48 to 15 Senate vote, according to the Senate bill page.
Not everything has survived. Hochul vetoed A6022A, her bill to speed Medicaid coverage of new medical technology, in December 2024. “I am deeply disappointed with Governor Hochul’s veto of this bill,” Paulin said in a veto statement. Hochul also vetoed nonprofit payment bills she carried with Sen. Shelley Mayer in 2024 and 2025. Her 2026 transparency bills with Sen. James Skoufis had not been signed as of June 2026.
HER VOTING RECORD
Paulin’s environmental ratings are near perfect. Her office says she has received the top score from the New York League of Conservation Voters every year it has scored lawmakers, as of 2021. The Business Council of New York State gave her 44 percent in its 2011 guide. PagPol could not retrieve her individual votes on the 2019 bail law or the 2019 climate law.
Her positions on crime and housing have shifted toward the center. In 2022 she said, “I am open-minded to adjusting the current bail law,” according to The Examiner. By 2024 she backed giving judges more discretion. She opposed the state override of local zoning in Hochul’s 2023 Housing Compact. “There’s got to be incentives because one size does not fit all,” she said.
The Bronxville station on Metro-North’s Harlem Line. Bronxville is one of the villages in Paulin’s 88th District. (Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHY SHE RAN AND WHAT SHE BELIEVES
Paulin came to the Assembly from women’s advocacy, and her website pledges to “stand up for Westchester families by working my hardest to reform government,” according to her Assembly page. In her 2022 campaign she said, “I support reproductive choice, common sense gun laws and equality for all,” according to Patch.
She frames aid in dying as a matter of personal choice. “This legislation is about love, autonomy, and easing needless suffering,” she said at the signing, according to her signing release. “Most people will never choose medical aid in dying, but want the reassurance of having it.” Of her sister, she told City & State, “But she would have had the choice.”
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
PagPol could not retrieve Paulin’s current campaign finance totals from the state Board of Elections. The most recent figures PagPol found are from 2008, when she raised $202,953 to Pilla’s $5,713, according to Ballotpedia. PagPol found no public matching funds approved for her in the state’s July 30, 2026 matching funds report, the most recent PagPol reviewed.
Other Westchester Assembly races drew far more public money in that report. Assemblymember Dana Levenberg received $99,064 for her general election. In the 90th District, Frank Jereis received $78,613 and Republican John Isaac about $64,630 across his primary and general accounts. Jeannette Garcia received $26,585, and Republican Assemblyman Matt Slater received $799.
Public matching funds approved July 30, 2026, Westchester Assembly candidates
PaulinOther Westchester Assembly candidates
Public matching funds approved for Westchester Assembly candidates in the state Public Campaign Finance Board’s July 30, 2026 distribution. Isaac’s total combines his primary and general election accounts. Source: New York State Public Campaign Finance Board.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
Aid in dying drew fire from religious groups, disability advocates, and members of her own party. “My concern and opposition to this bill comes from the great risk of targeting vulnerable communities of color,” said Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, a Brooklyn Democrat, according to WRVO. After the signing, the state’s Catholic bishops said the law “will seriously undermine all of the anti-suicide and mental health care investments,” according to NCR.
Disability rights advocates raised a different objection. “Doctors make mistakes. A lot,” said Anita Cameron of Not Dead Yet, according to State of Politics. Her surrogacy law split feminists. Gloria Steinem warned that “women in economic need become commercialized vessels for rent,” and fellow Democrat Deborah Glick called it “pregnancy for a fee.”
Her Republican opponent made crime the issue. “There can be no cashless bail anymore. It’s an open-ended ticket for people to commit more crimes,” Fix said in 2024, according to The Examiner. A 2010 letter backing her opponent said she had voted with then Speaker Sheldon Silver 99.1 percent of the time. PagPol found no ethics complaints or lawsuits against her.
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
Paulin’s claim to be an advocate for women and victims is well supported by her laws on rape, trafficking, contraception, and surrogacy. Her claim to be a government reformer is less clear. Her 2026 open government bills passed both houses but were not yet law, and a 2010 critic described her as a reliable vote for leadership. Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Didi Barrett once offered a rival surrogacy bill.
Her output stands out in the numbers. She was the prime sponsor of 307 bills in the 2025 and 2026 session, the most among the seven Westchester Assembly Democrats PagPol compared, according to Assembly data compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine. J. Gary Pretlow had 184, Nader Sayegh 73, and Dana Levenberg 69. A high bill count does not show how many bills passed, and PagPol did not audit her office’s figure of 400 laws.
Bills introduced as prime sponsor, 2025-26 session
PaulinWestchester Assembly Democrats
Bills each Westchester Assembly Democrat introduced as prime sponsor in the 2025 and 2026 session. Counts show bills introduced, not bills passed. Source: New York State Assembly sponsor data, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine.
WESTCHESTER AND STATE AUDITS
The state comptroller has flagged problems in at least one village she represents. A July 2015 Tuckahoe audit found the village board underestimated spending by more than $1 million in 2013-14 and let the general fund balance fall 73 percent. PagPol could not fully search the comptroller’s audit database for more recent reviews of towns and villages in the 88th District.
At the county level, the picture is stronger. Westchester earned the comptroller’s best possible fiscal stress score, 0.0, for fiscal years 2022 through 2024, according to the county announcement. The Tuckahoe findings concern village officials, not Paulin. Still, state aid formulas and mandates passed in Albany, where she has served for 25 years, shape every local budget in her district.
LOOKING AHEAD
Paulin’s term ends in January 2027, and the Board of Elections lists every Assembly seat on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. Her aid in dying law has been in effect since August. “Many people who qualify for medical aid in dying never take the medication,” she said in August. For more, visit PagPol’s Westchester County page or subscribe to the Westchester County newsletter.
