Committee Assignments: Audit & Finance, Health, Personnel and Special Nursing Home Facilities

Prior Committee Assignments: Personnel (Deputy Chair) and Mass Transit

Raymond F. Joyce was elected in 2007 to his second term in the Albany County Legislature to represent residents of the 14th Legislative District. He first was appointed in January 2004 to the 14th District seat that had been held for 36 years by his late father, the Honorable Harold L. Joyce. The Legislative District encompasses West Albany and includes the Westland Hills Park neighborhood, parts of the Melrose Avenue and Pine Hills neighborhoods and the Albany High School area.

Within his first term, Ray introduced legislation deferring property tax payments for Albany County residents called to active military duty and additionally introduced legislation with colleagues Timothy Nichols and John Frederick urging the Albany County Board of Elections to choose optical scan voting machines for future elections throughout the county. Further legislation sponsored by Ray includes sex offender residency restrictions, one of the first in New York State, establishment of an integrated domestic violence court in Albany, increasing the income eligibility limits for seniors and disabled persons to qualify for county property tax exemptions and enactment of county tax breaks for qualified first-time homebuyers. Ray fought to preserve the Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center as a separate entity and urged State approval for an increase in New York's minimum wage. He also was instrumental in securing Homeland Security grants to give police, firefighters and medical personnel the communications technology they need to respond effectively to terrorist threats and day-to-day emergencies.

A lifelong resident of the neighborhoods he represents, Ray works for National Grid as Coordinator for the company's Eastern Regional Control Center for Eastern New York. He attended neighborhood schools, Blessed Sacrament and Public School #16, and attended Christian Brothers Academy. Ray holds an A.A.S. in construction management/civil engineering, a B.S. in business and is currently completing an Executive MBA at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Ray is a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and has served as an Albany County Democratic Committeeman for more than 15 years. He currently is secretary to Blessed Sacrament's Holy Name Society. He is a past president and chair of the Albany Junior Chamber of Commerce and former chair of the Niagara Mohawk Federal Credit Union Supervisory Committee.

He has continuously been involved in West End and community affairs over the years through his work with various civic, service and charitable organizations. Among them are the Beverwyck Neighborhood Association, Friends of Westland Hills, Upper Washington Avenue Neighborhood Association, Friends of the Madison, New Albany Neighborhood Association, West End Neighborhood Association, City of Albany Special Events Office and Niagara Mohawk Community Action Team. He also has participated in the activities of the Special Olympics, Hugh O'Brien Youth Foundation, Equinox, Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and Institute for Nonviolence, Ancient Order of the Hibernians and St. Patrick's Outreach. He is a lifelong member of the Blessed Sacrament Parish.

Ray is grateful for the opportunity to continue the tradition, practiced by his father and his father's father before him, of service to his neighbors in the West End.