Bill Text: NY S00161 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Expands the eligibility period for indigent legal service attorneys to receive certain loan forgiveness; increases loan reimbursement for certain attorneys who work in legal services with indigent clients.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION [S00161 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S00161-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           161

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 8, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sens. RAMOS, ADDABBO, BRISPORT, CLEARE, FELDER, FERNANDEZ,
          GOUNARDES,  HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KAVANAGH, LIU, MAY, MYRIE, RIVERA,
          SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, WEBB -- read twice and  ordered  printed,
          and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the education law, in relation to the New York state
          district attorney and indigent legal services attorney  loan  forgive-
          ness program

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

     1    Section 1.   Paragraph b of subdivision 2  of  section  679-e  of  the
     2  education  law,  as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the
     3  laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
     4    b. "Eligible period" means  the  [six-year]  eight-year  period  after
     5  completion of the [third] second year and before the commencement of the
     6  [tenth]  eleventh  year  of  employment  as  an  eligible  attorney. For
     7  purposes of this section, all periods of time during which  an  admitted
     8  attorney  was  employed  as an eligible attorney and all periods of time
     9  during which a law school graduate awaiting admission to  the  New  York
    10  state  bar  was  employed by a prosecuting [or] agency, criminal defense
    11  agency, or non-profit  indigent  civil  legal  services  corporation  as
    12  permitted by section four hundred eighty-four of the judiciary law shall
    13  be combined.
    14    §  2.  Paragraph  d of subdivision 2 of section 679-e of the education
    15  law, as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56  of  the  laws  of
    16  2009, is amended to read as follows:
    17    d.  "Year of qualified service" means the twelve month period measured
    18  from the anniversary of the attorney's employment as an eligible  attor-
    19  ney,  or  as  a  law  school graduate awaiting admission to the New York
    20  state bar employed  by  a  prosecuting  [or]  agency,  criminal  defense
    21  agency,  or  non-profit  indigent  civil  legal  services corporation as

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00120-01-5
        S. 161                              2

     1  permitted by section four hundred  eighty-four  of  the  judiciary  law,
     2  adjusted  for  any  interruption  in employment.  Vacation or leave time
     3  provided by the employer or leave taken for a condition that is a quali-
     4  fying  reason  for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993,
     5  29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1) and (3) shall not be considered an interruption  in
     6  qualifying  employment.  Any  period  of  [temporary leave from service]
     7  interruption in qualifying employment  taken  by  an  eligible  attorney
     8  shall  not be considered in the calculation of qualified service. Howev-
     9  er, the period of [temporary leave shall be considered an]  interruption
    10  in qualifying employment and the calculation of the time period of qual-
    11  ified  service  shall  recommence  when the eligible attorney returns to
    12  [full time] service.
    13    § 3. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 679-e  of  the  education
    14  law,  as  amended  by  section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the laws of
    15  2009, is amended to read as follows:
    16    a.  An  eligible  attorney  may  apply  for  reimbursement  after  the
    17  completion  of  each  year  of  qualified  service provided however that
    18  reimbursement to each eligible attorney shall not exceed [three thousand
    19  four hundred] eight thousand dollars, per qualifying  year,  subject  to
    20  appropriations  available  therefor. The president may establish: (i) an
    21  application deadline and (ii) a method of selecting recipients if in any
    22  given year there are insufficient funds to cover the needs  of  all  the
    23  applicants.    Awards  shall be within the amounts appropriated for such
    24  purpose and based on availability of funds.
    25    § 4. Paragraph b of subdivision 3 of section 679-e  of  the  education
    26  law,  as  amended  by  section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the laws of
    27  2009, is amended to read as follows:
    28    b. An eligible attorney may apply after the completion of the [fourth]
    29  second year of qualified service,  and  annually  thereafter  after  the
    30  completion  of the [fifth] third through [ninth] eleventh year of quali-
    31  fied service, and may seek a student loan expense  grant  for  only  the
    32  previous year of qualified service within the time periods prescribed by
    33  the  president.  An  eligible  attorney may receive student loan expense
    34  grants for no more than [six] eight years of qualified service within an
    35  eligible period.
    36    § 5. This act shall take effect April 1, 2026.  Nothing  in  this  act
    37  shall  be  implemented  in a manner that diminishes the current award or
    38  status of eligible attorneys currently participating in the program.