Every ten years, Congressional and legislative district lines are redrawn by the ruling political party in each legislative house – a makeshift tenure program for lawmakers. On Thursday, Governor Cuomo sent them a bill that would take the process out of political hands.

"What the Governor introduced today is something we have been pushing for years," said Sen. Michael Gianaris (D).

The proposal creates an eleven-member Independent Redistricting Commission chosen by legislative leaders out of a pool of 40 candidates. Those candidates are selected by a separate bipartisan committee, assembled by the governor and lawmakers.

Governor Cuomo says if lawmakers don't agree to reform the system this year, he will veto any redistricting plans passed in 2012, when the lines are to be redrawn, sending the process to the courts.

"The Governor's proposal sets the stage for the upcoming fight. The legislative leaders have to decide, do they want to choose to work something out now, or roll the dice on a Cuomo veto next year," said Blair Horner, the legislative director of NYPIRG.

The Assembly already introduced the bill the same day it received it, but it's still unclear whether it will go anywhere, especially in the State Senate.

"Hopefully we will get the senate Republicans, who have been very hesitant to fulfill a promise on independent redistricting, to join forces and get this done," said Gianaris.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos released a statement saying while Senate officials are currently focused on the budget, they will work on reform legislation. But the GOP probably stands to lose the most in an independent redistricting process, because of New York's high Democratic enrollment.

"We just found out that 240,000 people, more people voted on the State Senate Democratic line than the Republican line last year. That means we have a State Senate that's Republican, not because the voters wanted it that way, but because the gerrymandering from 10 years ago by the Republicans has now defied the will of the voters," said Gianaris.

Also bad for Senate Republicans and incumbents on both sides of the aisle, Cuomo's plan would narrow the range of the population in each legislative district from 5 percent to 1 percent, making district populations more equal.

"We agree that that is better, deals with the uniqueness of the state constitution and represents the fundamental bedrock of a representative democracy, which is one person one vote," said Horner.