It was formed in 1996 to succeed the Nassau County Board of Supervisors, which had been ruled unconstitutional.The legislature monitors the performance of county agencies and makes land use decisions as well as legislating on a variety of other issues.In 1993, federal district court Judge Arthur D. Spatt ruled the board of supervisors unconstitutional, citing its clear violation of the Equal Protection Clause for its failure to adhere to the one man, one vote policy, and failure to represent the minority population.The plan adopted by the board of supervisors and written into the Nassau County Charter called for a nineteen-district legislature, with at least two black-majority districts.[6] In December 2015, legislators voted without much debate to raise their salary to $75,000 amidst a county financial crisis; this went into effect the next session in 2017.