NY State Senate Bill 2025-S1409

Senate Bill S1409

2025-2026 Legislative Session

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

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Current 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
Jan 09, 2025	referred to judiciary

2025-S1409 (ACTIVE) - Details

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 Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S9433
2023-2024: S139

2025-S1409 (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 arraignment volume be admitted to practice law in New York state for at least five years as of the date they commence the duties of office; provides the determination of a town or village with a high arraignment volume shall be made by the office of court administration in consultation with the division of criminal justice services.

2025-S1409 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S1409

SPONSOR: RYAN S
 
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 arraignment
volume town and village courts be licensed as attorneys and have five
years of experience.

 
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
one hundred highest arraignment volume town and village courts in the
state as determined by OCA and DCJS be admitted to practice law in the
state of New York and have 5 years of experience, with the exception of

sitting justices.

Section 2: amends Section 31 of the town law to reflect the same
requirements.

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 small claims;
landlord-tenant issues, including evictions; prosecution of misdemea-
nors; arraignments and 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 prac-
tice 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, threaten the deprivation of property. It is a
well-established legal principle that such cases be taken very serious-
ly, and that due care and thought be given to the decision-making proc-
ess. Criminal defendants have a right to be represented by an attorney,
and the dissent in a 1976 US Supreme Court case, North v. Russell,
asserted that just as criminal defendants 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. Russeficlearly 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 arraignments in
the state, so as to maximize the number of defendants who appear before
lawyer-judges without putting an undue burden on smaller localities. The
requirements this bill would impose on the 100 highest-arraignment
volume courts are identical to the requirements to serve as a judge in
the Uniform City Court Act.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024: S.139/A.1358 Passed Senate

2022: S.8243/A.9389, S9433

 
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.

2025-S1409 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1409
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 9, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. S. 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 ARRAIGNMENT  VOLUME  UNLESS  THEY  ARE  AN  ATTORNEY
 ADMITTED TO PRACTICE LAW IN THIS STATE FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AS OF THE
 DATE THEY COMMENCE THE DUTIES OF OFFICE. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDI-
 VISION,  "TOWN OR VILLAGE WITH A HIGH ARRAIGNMENT VOLUME" SHALL MEAN THE
 ONE HUNDRED HIGHEST ARRAIGNMENT VOLUMES IN TOWN AND  VILLAGE  COURTS  IN
 THE STATE AS DETERMINED BY THE OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION IN CONSUL-
 TATION  WITH  THE  DIVISION  OF  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE SERVICES. THE INITIAL
 DETERMINATION SHALL BE BASED ON THE SUM OF ARRAIGNMENTS FROM  TWO  THOU-
 SAND  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 ARRAIGNMENT VOLUME.
 NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, NON-ATTORNEY JUSTICES IN OFFICE AS OF THE
 EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL REMAIN ELIGIBLE TO SERVE  AS  A
 JUSTICE FOR THE COURT ON WHICH THEY CURRENTLY SIT.
   § 2. Section 31 of the town law is amended by adding a new subdivision
 2-a to read as follows:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04265-01-5
 S. 1409                             2

 
   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  ARRAIGNMENT
 VOLUME,  AS  DETERMINED  PURSUANT  TO  SUBDIVISION  (A-1) OF SECTION ONE
 HUNDRED FIVE OF THE UNIFORM JUSTICE COURT ACT, UNLESS THEY ARE AN ATTOR-
 NEY ADMITTED TO PRACTICE LAW IN THIS STATE FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AS OF
 THE  DATE THEY COMMENCE THE DUTIES OF OFFICE. ANY CHANGE IN THE REQUIRE-
 MENTS 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 ARRAIGNMENT VOLUME.  NOTWITHSTAND-
 ING  THE  FOREGOING, NON-ATTORNEY JUSTICES IN OFFICE AS OF THE EFFECTIVE
 DATE OF THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL REMAIN ELIGIBLE TO SERVE AS A JUSTICE FOR
 THE COURT ON WHICH THEY CURRENTLY SIT.
   § 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  ARRAIGN-
 MENT  VOLUME, AS DETERMINED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION (A-1) OF SECTION ONE
 HUNDRED FIVE OF THE UNIFORM JUSTICE COURT ACT, UNLESS THEY ARE AN ATTOR-
 NEY ADMITTED TO PRACTICE LAW IN THIS STATE FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AS OF
 THE DATE THEY COMMENCE THE DUTIES OF OFFICE. ANY CHANGE IN THE  REQUIRE-
 MENTS  FOR  ELIGIBILITY  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 ARRAIGNMENT VOLUME.
 NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, NON-ATTORNEY JUSTICES IN OFFICE AS OF THE
 EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL REMAIN ELIGIBLE TO SERVE  AS  A
 JUSTICE FOR THE COURT ON WHICH THEY CURRENTLY SIT.
   §  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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