Bill Text: NY A06748 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires town and village justices be admitted to the practice of law in this state and reside in the municipality in which the position is located; provides an exception to the requirement for currently serving justices; provides for the office of court administration to grant a waiver of the requirements.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-07-15 - enacting clause stricken [A06748 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06748-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6748

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       May 8, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. ZEBROWSKI, SHIMSKY, WALLACE, MAGNARELLI -- read
          once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

        AN ACT to amend the uniform justice court act, in relation to  requiring
          town and village justices be admitted to the practice of law

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

     1    Section 1. Section 105 of the uniform justice court act, as amended by
     2  chapter 250 of the laws of 1975, subdivision (c) as amended  by  chapter
     3  843  of  the laws of 1980 and subdivision (d) as added by chapter 739 of
     4  the laws of 1976, is amended to read as follows:
     5  § 105. [Training] Qualification, training  and  education  of  justices;
     6  expenses thereof; requirements; restriction.
     7    [(a) Training.] 1. (a) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs (b) and
     8  (c) of this subdivision, any person serving as a town or village justice
     9  for  a  term of office commencing on or after September first, two thou-
    10  sand twenty-four must be admitted to practice law in this state and must
    11  reside in the municipality in which the position is located.
    12    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of  this  section,
    13  any  person  not  admitted  to  the practice of law in this state who is
    14  serving as a town or village justice on September  first,  two  thousand
    15  twenty-four  shall  be eligible to continue serving in such position and
    16  may serve the remainder of his or her term and run for additional  terms
    17  of office.
    18    (c) The chief executive officer of a municipality may submit an appli-
    19  cation  for  a  waiver  of  the  requirements of this subdivision to the
    20  office of court administration in such form as determined by the  office
    21  of court administration. In the discretion of the office of court admin-
    22  istration,  a  waiver may be granted upon an adequate showing that there
    23  are an insufficient number of attorneys residing within the municipality
    24  to provide a candidate or candidates meeting the requirements  of  para-
    25  graph  (a)  of this subdivision.   In such case, a waiver may be granted

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10813-01-3
        A. 6748                             2

     1  allowing a person not admitted to practice law in this state to run  for
     2  the  office  of justice and/or to allow an attorney residing outside the
     3  municipality, but within a reasonable geographical distance of the muni-
     4  cipality,  to run for and serve as a justice in that municipality.
     5    2. No town or village justice selected for a term of office commencing
     6  on  or  after  September first, nineteen hundred sixty-seven, except one
     7  who has been admitted to practice law in this state,  shall  assume  the
     8  functions  of his office unless he has filed with the clerk of his muni-
     9  cipality a certificate of completion of a course of education and train-
    10  ing prescribed by the administrative board. The administrative board may
    11  issue a temporary certificate enabling a  town  or  village  justice  to
    12  assume  the  functions  of his office pending completion of the earliest
    13  such course available thereafter. Such certificates shall be in a  form,
    14  and  subject  to  terms and conditions, prescribed by the administrative
    15  board.
    16    [(b) Expenses.] 3. Notwithstanding any other law, actual and necessary
    17  expenses incurred by a justice or justice  elect  in  carrying  out  the
    18  foregoing requirement shall be a charge against the municipality.
    19    [(c)]  4.  No  town  or  village justice selected for a term of office
    20  commencing on or after July first, nineteen  [hunded]  hundred  seventy-
    21  five, shall engage in or accept any employment as a "peace officer" or a
    22  "police  officer",  as those terms are defined in the criminal procedure
    23  law.
    24    [(d)] 5. No town justice selected for a term of office  commencing  on
    25  or  after  July  first, nineteen hundred seventy-seven, shall serve as a
    26  member of a town board in a town of the second class.
    27    § 2. The office of court administration shall  establish  a  procedure
    28  for the submission and processing of applications requesting a waiver of
    29  the  provisions  of paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 105 of the
    30  uniform justice court act. The office of court administration shall make
    31  applications for such waiver available on its website.
    32    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.