BILL NUMBER:  S7585

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the New York city civil court act,
in relation to requiring certain civil court documents to be provided
to parties in their native language

 PURPOSE :

This legislation would require that parties in proceedings before New
York City Civil Court who are not fluent in English be provided court
papers and court stipulations in their own native language.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1:

Adds a new Section 2105 to the New York City Civil Court Act requiring
that parties in proceedings before New York City Civil Court who are
not fluent in English be provided with the opportunity to obtain court
orders and any other court documents in their own native language.
Such court orders and documents can include stipulations directing
action to be taken or forborne by either of such parties and shall be
provided to such parties in their own native language.  All parties
shall demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the court, their
comprehension of the nature and effect of each such court order or
stipulation. To ensure that such court papers are accurate in a
              

non-English language, the person who drafts such papers, shall provide
the court with the document in English and the other language, and
certify that they both documents accurately reflect the decision of
the court.

Section 2:

Effective Date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

With the largest concentration of limited English speakers in New York
State, the City of New York is home to 1.8 million people who face
ongoing language barriers as they seek to navigate their way through
the court system. The New York City Civil Court system is an
extraordinarily busy court system with a total caseload of many
hundreds of thousands of cases each year.

Each one of those actions can have a major impact upon the quality of
life of the litigating parties. Hence, it is essential for our civil
court system to be administered in an equitable manner that fairly
administers justice to all parties - regardless of their language
skills or fluency in English.

It is essential that all parties to stipulations fully understand the
potential consequences of their actions before entering into an
enforceable agreement that could dramatically affect their lives.
This legislation builds upon the intent of current state and federal
policies designed to ensure that witnesses and parties in court cases
have access to translators as needed so they can effectively
participate in proceedings. It closes an existing loophole by
specifically requiring the translation of stipulations and recognizes
the growing linguistic diversity of the residents of New York State's
largest municipality.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New Legislation

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This Act shall take effect on the 180th day after enacted into law.