STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1134
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SEAWRIGHT -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Judiciary
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 such commissioner 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]
16 such applicant to be incapable of performing jury service or there is
17 any other fact which indicates that attendance for jury service in
18 accordance with the summons would cause undue hardship or extreme incon-
19 venience to the applicant, a person under [his or her] such applicant's
20 care or supervision, or the public. Except as provided in paragraph two
21 of subdivision (a) of this section, in determining whether an applica-
22 tion for postponement should be granted, the commissioner or the court
23 shall be guided by standards promulgated by the chief administrator of
24 the courts.
25 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of September next
26 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.
LBD03194-01-5
