Increases the number of family court judges in the city of New York to seventy-two; provides for two additional family court judges for each of Westchester and Rockland counties and an additional family court judge for each of Erie and Niagara counties.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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10139
IN SENATE
April 30, 2026
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Introduced by Sens. BOTTCHER, WEBER -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the family court act, in relation to the number of judg-
es in family court
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 121 of the family court act, as amended by chapter
2 204 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 121. Number of judges. The family court within the city of New York
4 shall consist of [sixty-seven] seventy-two judges[, effective January
5 first, two thousand twenty-five]. There shall be at least one family
6 court judge resident in each county of the city of New York.
7 § 2. Section 131 of the family court act is amended by adding a new
8 subdivision (y) to read as follows:
9 (y) There shall be two additional family court judges for each of
10 Westchester and Rockland counties and an additional family court judge
11 for each of Erie and Niagara counties. The compensation of each such
12 additional family court judge shall be the same as the compensation paid
13 to each existing family court judge in the county for which it is estab-
14 lished.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately, provided, however, that
16 the positions created by section two of this act shall be filled by
17 election at the November 2027 election, for a term to commence on the
18 first day of January, 2028, as if such vacancy occurred on the effective
19 date of this act.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08363-02-6
