NY State Senate Bill 2021-S9433

Senate Bill S9433

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to requiring certain town and village justices be admitted to practice law in the state

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 27, 2022	referred to judiciary

2021-S9433 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9389
Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Uniform Justice Court Act
Laws Affected:: Amd §105, UJCA; amd §31, Town L; amd §3-301, Vil L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S139, A1358

2021-S9433 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to requiring certain town and village justices be admitted to practice law in the state; requires town and village justices in a town or village with a high volume caseload be admitted to practice law in New York state; provides the determination of a town or village with a high volume caseload shall be made by the office of court administration in consultation with the division of criminal justice services.

2021-S9433 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S9433

SPONSOR: RYAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the uniform justice court act, the town law and the
village law, in relation to requiring certain town and village justices
be admitted to practice law in the state

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill establishes a requirement that justices in high-volume town
and village courts be licensed as attorneys.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends Section 105 of the uniform justice court act to require
that a town or village justice selected for a term office in the fifty
highest volume caseload town and village courts in the state as deter-
mined by OCA and DCJS be admitted to practice law in the state of New
York.

Section 2 amends Section 31 of the town law to reflect the same require-
ments.

Section 3 amends Section 3-301 of the village law to reflect the same
requirements.

Section 4 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Justice Courts are town and village courts. These small local courts are
sometimes referred to as magistrate courts. Justice courts have juris-
diction over both civil and criminal matters including smalls claim;
landlord tenant issues, including evictions; prosecution of misdemea-
nors; arraignments preliminary hearings for felonies; and traffic
infractions. Despite the crucial role that justice courts play in the
state legal system, they are underfunded and have little oversight.
There are disparities across the state in the quality of facilities and
in the salaries the courts can offer. There is also no requirement that
a justice court judge be a licensed attorney.

At present, New York is one of only eight states to allow non-lawyer
judges to hand down jail sentences for misdemeanors without the right to
a new trial before a lawyer-judge. The other seven are Arizona, Montana,
Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, Nevada, and South Carolina. And Montana only
permits the practice in rural and or sparsely populated counties.

In the context of criminal proceedings and eviction cases, the lack of
attorney judges raises some due process issues. Most, if not all, crimi-
nal cases involve a deprivation of liberty or property. Eviction cases,
by their very nature are a deprivation of property. It is a well-establ-
ished legal principle that such cases be taken very seriously, and due
care and thought be given to the decision making process. Criminal
defendants have a right to be represented by an attorney'/ ;IndòA 1976
Supreme Court case, North v. Russell, held that just as criminal defend-
ants have a right to be represented by an attorney, they also have a due
process right to appear before an attorney judge. While North v. Russell
clearly established this right, it left it up to the states to decide
how they want to protect it.

Many smaller localities lack the resources and docket to attract an
attorney to serve as the town or village justice. This bill imposes a
requirement only on those localities that have the largest number of
cases in the state, so as to maximize the number of defendants who
appear before lawyer-judges without putting an undue burden on smaller
localities.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.

2021-S9433 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9433
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 27, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RYAN  --  read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to amend the uniform justice court act,  the  town  law  and  the
   village  law,  in  relation  to  requiring  certain  town  and village
   justices be admitted to practice law in the state
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Section 105 of the uniform justice court act is amended by
 adding a new subdivision (a-1) to read as follows:
   (A-1) EDUCATION. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION  OF  LAW  TO  THE
 CONTRARY,  NO PERSON MAY SERVE AS A TOWN OR VILLAGE JUSTICE IN A TOWN OR
 VILLAGE WITH A HIGH VOLUME CASELOAD UNLESS THEY ARE ADMITTED TO PRACTICE
 LAW IN THE STATE. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION, "TOWN OR VILLAGE
 WITH A HIGH VOLUME CASELOAD" SHALL MEAN THE FIFTY HIGHEST  VOLUME  CASE-
 LOADS  IN  TOWN  AND  VILLAGE  COURTS  IN THE STATE AS DETERMINED BY THE
 OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION IN  CONSULTATION  WITH  THE  DIVISION  OF
 CRIMINAL  JUSTICE  SERVICES. THE INITIAL DETERMINATION SHALL BE BASED ON
 THE SUM OF CASES FROM TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN AND TWO  THOUSAND  NINETEEN.
 SUBSEQUENT  DETERMINATIONS  SHALL  TAKE PLACE EVERY TEN YEARS THEREAFTER
 AND SHALL USE THE SUM OF AT LEAST TWO YEARS' DATA.  ANY  CHANGE  IN  THE
 REQUIREMENTS  FOR  ELIGIBILITY  TO SERVE AS A TOWN OR VILLAGE JUSTICE IN
 SUCH TOWN OR VILLAGE SHALL TAKE EFFECT UPON  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  NEXT
 JUDICIAL  TERM  OF OFFICE FOLLOWING THE DESIGNATION AS A TOWN OR VILLAGE
 WITH A HIGH VOLUME CASELOAD.
   § 2. Section 31 of the town law is amended by adding a new subdivision
 2-a to read as follows:
   2-A. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW TO  THE  CONTRARY,  NO
 PERSON  MAY  SERVE  AS A TOWN JUSTICE IN A TOWN WITH A HIGH VOLUME CASE-
 LOAD, AS DETERMINED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION (A-1) OF SECTION ONE HUNDRED
 FIVE OF THE UNIFORM JUSTICE COURT ACT, UNLESS THEY ARE ADMITTED TO PRAC-
 TICE LAW IN THE STATE. ANY CHANGE IN THE REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY TO
 SERVE AS A TOWN JUSTICE IN SUCH TOWN SHALL TAKE EFFECT UPON COMMENCEMENT
 OF THE NEXT JUDICIAL TERM OF OFFICE FOLLOWING THE DESIGNATION AS A  TOWN
 WITH A HIGH VOLUME CASELOAD.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD15983-01-2
 S. 9433                             2
 
   §  3.  Section  3-301  of  the  village law is amended by adding a new
 subdivision 6 to read as follows:
   6.  NOTWITHSTANDING  ANY  OTHER  PROVISION  OF LAW TO THE CONTRARY, NO
 PERSON MAY SERVE AS A VILLAGE JUSTICE IN A VILLAGE WITH  A  HIGH  VOLUME
 CASELOAD,  AS  DETERMINED  PURSUANT  TO SUBDIVISION (A-1) OF SECTION ONE
 HUNDRED FIVE OF THE UNIFORM JUSTICE COURT ACT, UNLESS THEY ARE  ADMITTED
 TO  PRACTICE LAW IN THE STATE. ANY CHANGE IN THE REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGI-
 BILITY TO SERVE AS A VILLAGE JUSTICE IN SUCH VILLAGE SHALL  TAKE  EFFECT
 UPON  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  NEXT  JUDICIAL TERM OF OFFICE FOLLOWING THE
 DESIGNATION AS A VILLAGE WITH A HIGH VOLUME CASELOAD.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of January next  succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

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