Requires town and village justices be admitted to the practice of law in this state and reside in the municipality in which the position is located; provides an exception to the requirement for currently serving justices; provides for the office of court administration to grant a waiver of the requirements.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6748
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 8, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI, SHIMSKY, WALLACE, MAGNARELLI -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the uniform justice court act, in relation to requiring
town and village justices be admitted to the practice of law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 105 of the uniform justice court act, as amended by
2 chapter 250 of the laws of 1975, subdivision (c) as amended by chapter
3 843 of the laws of 1980 and subdivision (d) as added by chapter 739 of
4 the laws of 1976, is amended to read as follows:
5 § 105. [Training] Qualification, training and education of justices;
6 expenses thereof; requirements; restriction.
7 [(a) Training.] 1. (a) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs (b) and
8 (c) of this subdivision, any person serving as a town or village justice
9 for a term of office commencing on or after September first, two thou-
10 sand twenty-four must be admitted to practice law in this state and must
11 reside in the municipality in which the position is located.
12 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section,
13 any person not admitted to the practice of law in this state who is
14 serving as a town or village justice on September first, two thousand
15 twenty-four shall be eligible to continue serving in such position and
16 may serve the remainder of his or her term and run for additional terms
17 of office.
18 (c) The chief executive officer of a municipality may submit an appli-
19 cation for a waiver of the requirements of this subdivision to the
20 office of court administration in such form as determined by the office
21 of court administration. In the discretion of the office of court admin-
22 istration, a waiver may be granted upon an adequate showing that there
23 are an insufficient number of attorneys residing within the municipality
24 to provide a candidate or candidates meeting the requirements of para-
25 graph (a) of this subdivision. In such case, a waiver may be granted
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10813-01-3
A. 6748 2
1 allowing a person not admitted to practice law in this state to run for
2 the office of justice and/or to allow an attorney residing outside the
3 municipality, but within a reasonable geographical distance of the muni-
4 cipality, to run for and serve as a justice in that municipality.
5 2. No town or village justice selected for a term of office commencing
6 on or after September first, nineteen hundred sixty-seven, except one
7 who has been admitted to practice law in this state, shall assume the
8 functions of his office unless he has filed with the clerk of his muni-
9 cipality a certificate of completion of a course of education and train-
10 ing prescribed by the administrative board. The administrative board may
11 issue a temporary certificate enabling a town or village justice to
12 assume the functions of his office pending completion of the earliest
13 such course available thereafter. Such certificates shall be in a form,
14 and subject to terms and conditions, prescribed by the administrative
15 board.
16 [(b) Expenses.] 3. Notwithstanding any other law, actual and necessary
17 expenses incurred by a justice or justice elect in carrying out the
18 foregoing requirement shall be a charge against the municipality.
19 [(c)] 4. No town or village justice selected for a term of office
20 commencing on or after July first, nineteen [hunded] hundred seventy-
21 five, shall engage in or accept any employment as a "peace officer" or a
22 "police officer", as those terms are defined in the criminal procedure
23 law.
24 [(d)] 5. No town justice selected for a term of office commencing on
25 or after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-seven, shall serve as a
26 member of a town board in a town of the second class.
27 § 2. The office of court administration shall establish a procedure
28 for the submission and processing of applications requesting a waiver of
29 the provisions of paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 105 of the
30 uniform justice court act. The office of court administration shall make
31 applications for such waiver available on its website.
32 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
