Relates to requiring certain civil court documents to be provided to parties in their native language and requiring parties to demonstrate their understanding of the nature and effect of such documents.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9151
SPONSOR: Rajkumar (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the New York city civil court act, in relation to
requiring certain civil court documents to be provided to parties in
their native language
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This legislation would require that parties in proceedings before New
York City Civil Court who are not fluent in English be provided court
papers and court stipulations in their own native language.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Adds a new Section 2105 to the New York City Civil Court Act
requiring that parties in proceedings before New York City Civil Court
who are not fluent in English be provided with the opportunity to obtain
court orders and any other court documents in their own native language.
Such court orders and documents can include stipulations directing
action to be taken or forborne by either of such parties and shall be
provided to such parties in their own native language. All parties shall
demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the court, their comprehension of
the nature and effect of each such court order, cr stipulation. To
ensure that such court papers are accurate in a non-English language,
the person who drafts such papers, shall provide the court with the
document in English and the other language, and certify that both docu-
ments accurately reflect the decision of the court..
Section 2: Effective Date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
JUSTIFICATION:
With the largest concentration of limited English speakers in New York
State, the City of New York is home to 1.8 million people who face ongo-
ing language barriers as they seek to navigate their way through the
court system. The. New York City Civil Court system is an extraordinar-
ily busy court system with a total caseload of many hundreds of thou-
sands of cases each year.
Each one of those actions can have a major impact upon the quality of
life of the litigating parties. Hence, it is essential for our civil
court system to be administered in an equitable manner that fairly
administers justice to all parties - regardless of their language skills
or fluency in English.
It is essential that all parties to stipulations fully understand the
potential consequences of their actions before entering into an enforce-
able agreement that could dramatically affect their lives.
This legislation builds upon the intent of current state and federal
policies designed to ensure that witnesses and parties in court cases
have access to translators as needed so they can effectively participate
in proceedings. It closes an existing loophole by'specifically requiring
the translation of stipulations and recognizes the growing linguistic
diversity of the residents of New York State's largest municipality.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Assembly:
01/11/2023 referred to judiciary
01/03/2024 referred to judiciary
01/10/2024 enacting clause stricken
01/05/22 referred to judiciary
03/01/21 referred to judiciary
01/22/19 Referred to Judiciary
01/03/18 Referred to Judiciary
01/23/17 Referred to Judiciary
05/11/16 Amend and recommit to Judiciary
01/06/16 Referred to Judiciary
05/28/15 Referred to Judiciary
Senate: 01/18/19 Referred to Judiciary
05/10/16 Referred to Judiciary
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This Act shall take effect on the 180th day after enacted into law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9151
IN ASSEMBLY
February 8, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR, McDONALD, ARDILA, ALVAREZ, FORREST,
TAYLOR -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. LEVENBERG, McDONOUGH -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the New York city civil court act, in relation to
requiring certain civil court documents to be provided to parties in
their native language
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The New York city civil court act is amended by adding a
2 new section 2105 to read as follows:
3 § 2105. Languages in which certain court documents are to be
4 furnished. (a) Court documents provided to parties including court
5 orders and any other court documents which include stipulations direct-
6 ing action to be taken or forborne by either of such parties shall be
7 provided to such parties in their native language, provided they are not
8 fluent in English; and provided, further, that such native language is
9 one of the six most prevalent languages, other than English, spoken in
10 the city of New York.
11 (b) The person who drafts such a court document in the native language
12 of a party, pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section, shall provide
13 the court with a copy of the document in both English and in the native
14 language, and shall certify under oath that the document in the native
15 language accurately reflects the same document written in English.
16 (c) All parties shall demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the court,
17 their comprehension of the nature and effect of each such court order or
18 stipulation.
19 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
20 it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02330-01-3
