BILL NUMBER: S6996

SPONSOR: BRESLIN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the judiciary law, in relation to increasing the number
of county court judges in certain jurisdictions

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill will increase the number of county court judges in Schenectady
County from one (1) to two (2).

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Subdivision 42 of section 182 of the judidiary law is amended
to change the word "one" to "two".

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Pursuant to Judiciary Law Section 182 (42), Schenectady County only has
              

one full-time resident County Court Judgeship. The caseloads of Schenec-
tady County Court demonstrate that a second full-time resident County
Court Judgeship is appropriate. The work of the County Court is extreme-
ly important. In addition to jurisdiction over certain civil matters,
County Courts oversee all felony criminal cases.  Statistics on the
caseloads in Schenectady County, provided by the Hon. Felix J. Catena,
Administrative Judge of the 4th Judicial District, demonstrate that
Schenectady's case filings, dispositions, and trials are comparable with
Counties enjoying two (2) full-time resident County Court Judges. The
numbers alone demonstrate that the residents of Schenectady County would
benefit greatly from having a second full-time resident County Court
Judge.

To further illustrate the fact that one (1) full-time resident County
Court Judge is insufficient to manage the Schenectady County caseload,
visiting judges have been assigned in every single term of Schenectady
County Court dating back to 1999. Since 1999, at least one, and some-
times two, judges have been assigned to hear cases in Schenectady. These
visiting judges are not assigned on an ad hoc basis to hear a case-they
are assigned for entire terms of the Court to hear cases as if they were
a full-time resident County Court Judge. The fact that the Office of
Court Administration and the Administrative Judge for the 4th Judicial
District have assigned full-time visiting judges to Schenectady's *Coun-
ty Court further demonstrates the need for a second full-time resident
County Court Judge in Schenectady County.

The assignment of visiting judges is not an effective long-term method
of handling cases in Schenectady County. The reassignment of judges
brings its own issues that negatively impact access to justice for resi-
dents of both Schenectady County and the jurisdiction from which the
visiting is reassigned. Preliminarily, judges in New York are elected by
the people they serve. While an occasional visiting judge assignment is
appropriate to address a conflict issue or a scheduling issue, the
permanent assignment of visiting judges deprives the residents of Sche-
nectady County of a judge answerable to the residents of the County. The
residents of Schenectady County should have a right to evaluate the
qualifications of potential judges serving the community, and to decide

on election day the individual best suited to act on their behalf on the
bench.

In addition to visiting judges depriving Schenectady County residents
from deciding who will work on their behalf, visiting judges assigned to
Schenectady County deprive the judge's original jurisdiction of a full-
time jurist working on their behalf. The residents of the judge's
original jurisdiction deserve judges elected by them to be working for
them in their own communities. By re-assigning judges, caseloads in the
judge's original jurisdiction are not handled as quickly and efficiently
as they otherwise would if that judge was permitted work in the juris-
diction from which they were elected.  Depriving the "sending jurisdic-
tion" of their duly elected judges delays the access to justice for all
residents in that community.

Much work has been done, and continues to be done, in criminal justice
reform. Ensuring jurisdictions have the necessary number of judges to
efficiently hear cases, and ensure equal access to justice for all
communities, is a necessary step in criminal justice reform. For these
reasons, it is appropriate to amend Sectionò182 (42) of the New York
State Judiciary Law to increase the number of Schenectady County Court
Judges from one (1) to two (2). Numerous stakeholders agree that this
legislation would greatly improve efficiencies and access to justice in
Schenectady County. These stakeholders include Hon.  Felix J. Catena,
Administrative Judge of the 4th Judicial District; Schenectady County;
Robert M. Carney, Schenectady County District Attorney; and Stephen M.
Signore, Schenectady County Public Defender.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL.IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the
additional county court judge shall first be elected at the general
election to be held on November 7, 2023 and shall take office January 1,
2024.