STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7589
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
December 10, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to optional excusal from
jury service for persons age 70 and over
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 517 of the judiciary law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph 3 to read as follows:
3 (3) An application for excusal from the whole of the time of jury
4 service shall be granted hereunder upon the request of any person who is
5 seventy years of age or over made to the commissioner of jurors, without
6 any need to show mental or physical incapacity, undue hardship or
7 extreme inconvenience to the applicant. The application with proof of
8 age shall be presented to the commissioner by mail, fax, email or in
9 person at such time as he or she shall require.
10 § 2. Subdivision (c) of section 517 of the judiciary law, as amended
11 by chapter 86 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
12 (c) [In] Except as provided in paragraph three of subdivision (a) of
13 this section, in determining whether an application for excusal should
14 be granted, the commissioner or the court shall consider whether the
15 applicant has a mental or physical condition that causes him or her to
16 be incapable of performing jury service or there is any other fact which
17 indicates that attendance for jury service in accordance with the
18 summons would cause undue hardship or extreme inconvenience to the
19 applicant, a person under his or her care or supervision, or the public.
20 Except as provided in paragraph two of subdivision (a) of this section,
21 in determining whether an application for postponement should be grant-
22 ed, the commissioner or the court shall be guided by standards promul-
23 gated by the chief administrator of the courts.
24 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of September next
25 succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05631-01-1
