Bill Text: NY A01956 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Allows for the optional exclusion from jury service for persons age 65 and older.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to judiciary [A01956 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A01956-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1956

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 13, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. BARNWELL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Judiciary

        AN  ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to optional excusal from
          jury service for persons age 65 and over

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  (a)  of  section 517 of the judiciary law is
     2  amended by adding a new paragraph 3 to read as follows:
     3    (3) An application for excusal from the whole  of  the  time  of  jury
     4  service shall be granted hereunder upon the request of any person who is
     5  sixty-five  years  of  age  or  over made to the commissioner of jurors,
     6  without any need to show mental or physical incapacity,  undue  hardship
     7  or extreme inconvenience to the applicant. The application with proof of
     8  age  shall  be  presented  to the commissioner by mail, fax, email or in
     9  person at such time as he or she shall require.
    10    § 2. Subdivision (c) of section 517 of the judiciary law,  as  amended
    11  by chapter 86 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
    12    (c)  [In]  Except as provided in paragraph three of subdivision (a) of
    13  this section, in determining whether an application for  excusal  should
    14  be  granted,  the  commissioner  or the court shall consider whether the
    15  applicant has a mental or physical condition that causes him or  her  to
    16  be incapable of performing jury service or there is any other fact which
    17  indicates  that  attendance  for  jury  service  in  accordance with the
    18  summons would cause undue  hardship  or  extreme  inconvenience  to  the
    19  applicant, a person under his or her care or supervision, or the public.
    20  Except  as provided in paragraph two of subdivision (a) of this section,
    21  in determining whether an application for postponement should be  grant-
    22  ed,  the  commissioner or the court shall be guided by standards promul-
    23  gated by the chief administrator of the courts.
    24    § 3. This act shall  take  effect  on  the  first  of  September  next
    25  succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06965-01-1