Dean Skelos - in The Senate

In The Senate

He also served as the Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee before stepping down from that post after ten years. While serving as chairman Skelos was credited with authoring the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage Program (EPIC), which assists senior citizens in defraying the cost of prescription drugs.

Senator Skelos was also instrumental in the passage of the Sex Offender Registration Act, also known as Megan's Law, which mandated that convicted sex offenders register with local law enforcement authorities and that local communities be apprised of the presence of all known sex offenders.

As Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee on Breast Cancer and Pesticides, Senator Skelos helped to draft the Health Research Science Law, which established a Pesticide Registry within New York State.

Intimately involved in events in Long Island, he is also credited with creating the Nassau Interim Finance Authority.

Since 1989, Senator Skelos has been Co-Chairman of the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Apportionment, a position that requires he and his colleagues to redraw the boundaries of Assembly, Senate, and congressional districts within New York State.

In 1993, Senator Skelos was appointed as Chairman of the Task Force on Economic Recovery and Job Development.

He was Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate from 1995 to 2008, and Majority Leader in 2008 after the resignation of Joseph Bruno.

In 1998, he was appointed by Governor George Pataki to sit on the four-member Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Program Review Board.

Senator Skelos has been a member of the board of directors of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation since 1998, as well as a member of the National Conference of State Legislators and National Conference of Insurance Legislators.

In addition to his service in the New York State Senate, he is also counsel to Ruskin Moscou Faltischek P.C.