BILL NUMBER: S4632

SPONSOR: TEDISCO
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the county law, in relation to the
full-time status of the district attorney of Hamilton county

 
SUMMARY OF GENERAL PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 8 of Section 700 of the County Law to make
the District Attorney of Hamilton County a full-time position.

Section 2 provides the effective date.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Judiciary Law Section 183-a affords county legislatures the option of
designating the office,of district attorney as a full-time position.
Section 183-a links county district attorneys' salaries with judicial
salaries, requiring a district attorney's salary to be equal to or high-
er than either the county court judge or supreme court judge in a coun-
ty, depending on full or part-time status. On April 1, 2016 the State
              

legislature approved the salary raises recommended by the New York State
Commission on Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Compensation. This
statute increased all state judge (and most district attorney) salaries
in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Chapter 1049 of the Laws of 1974, amended subdivisions 8 and 10 of
section 700 of the County Law and section 183-a of the Judiciary Law to
extend to counties with populations ranging from 40,000 to 100,000 the
option of designating the position of district attorney full time,
thereby becoming eligible to receive State aid in the amount of $10,000
per year to be applied to the district attorney's salary.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

District attorneys retain the ultimate, non-delegable duty to conduct
all prosecutions for crimes and offenses cognizable by courts of the
county for which he or she has been elected. However, law enforcement
needs differ in counties of various sizes.

Section 183-a of the Judiciary Law and subdivision 8 of section 700 of
the County Law evidence a legislative recognition that smaller counties
might find it burdensome to comply with the statutory salary require-
ments, thus, leaving it to the county legislature to determine whether
or not the position of district attorney would be full time and subject
to those salary requirements.  The office of the District Attorney of
Hamilton County by its nature exceeds that of a part-time position, and
conducting prosecutions for crimes throughout the county requires a
full-time commitment. As such, the applicable local government has
adopted a resolution to make the position of District Attorney of Hamil-
ton County a full-time position and subject to statutory salary require-
ments.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPACT FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.