Waives the biennial attorney registration fee for New York attorneys who meet the federal public service loan forgiveness program employment qualifications.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1862
SPONSOR: Dinowitz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the judiciary law, in relation to waiving the biennial
attorney registration fee for New York attorneys who meet the federal
public service loan forgiveness program employment qualifications
PURPOSE:
Waives the biennial registration fee for New York attorneys who meet the
federal public service loan forgiveness program employment qualifica-
tions
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Section 468-a of the Judiciary Law, to allow New York
attorneys who meet the employment requirements for participation in the
federal public service loan forgiveness program, as set forth by 20
U.S.C. 1087e(m), to similarly be eligible for a waiver of the biennial
attorney registration fee collected by the New York Office of Court
Administration.
Section 2 sets forth the effective date of this legislation.
JUSTIFICATION:
As the nation's student debt crisis has continued to balloon in recent
years, law school graduates have been especially crippled by the cost of
their education. In 2015, The New York Times reported that the average
student loan debt carried by an American law school graduate was approx-
imately $140,000. This is in stark contrast to the average student loan
debt of $37,712 carried by students receiving an undergraduate degree in
2016.
Recognizing that massive student loan debt brings a negative impact upon
the nation's economy, often disenabling professionals from making 'big
ticket' purchases for up to thirty years in their futures, the federal
government implemented several reforms related to the repayment of
student loan debt. These included the establishment of the income-based
repayment programs, as well as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Program (PSLFP), now codified at 20 U.S.C. 1087e(m). Graduates who are
employed full-time by government organizations and most 501(c)(3)
nonprofit groups are eligible for participation in the PSLFP, which
forgives the balance of a graduate's student loan debt after making ten
years of payments on student loans, while employed by such an organiza-
tion. The PSLFP seeks to incentivize students to work in government
and/or non-profit positions where employers typically cannot afford the
salaries that can be earned in the private sector.
Building upon this theme, this legislation seeks to was the biennial
attorney registration fee for New York attorneys who also qualify for
participation in the PSLFP. This,fee, currently pegged at $375 every two
years, comes in addition to costly aspects of maintaining one's bar
license, including fees associated with mandatory continued legal educa-
tion and an attorney's admission to practice before federal courts. As
the State of New York and other organizations necessarily seek out the
best and brightest attorneys to work on behalf of the People, this
legislation takes an important step toward incentivizing lawyers to
accept positions in public service.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019: A.6085-A - Referred to Judiciary / S.3819-A - Referred to Judici-
ary
2018: 5.987 (Peralta) - Died in Judiciary
2017: S.987 (Peralta) - Died in Finance
FISCAL IMPACT:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law; provided, however that effective immediately, the addi-
tion, amendment and/or repeal of the rules or regulations necessary for
the implementation of the foregoing provisions of this act on its effec-
tive date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on or
before such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1862
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ, TAYLOR, THIELE, SAYEGH, STIRPE,
O'DONNELL, JOYNER, SIMON, BUTTENSCHON, GOTTFRIED, WILLIAMS, COOK,
REYES, CRUZ, STERN, WEPRIN, STECK, FERNANDEZ, DARLING -- Multi-Spon-
sored by -- M. of A. GRIFFIN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to waiving the biennial
attorney registration fee for New York attorneys who meet the federal
public service loan forgiveness program employment qualifications
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 468-a of the judiciary law, as
2 amended by section 9 of part K of chapter 56 of the laws of 2010, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 4. The biennial registration fee shall be three hundred seventy-five
5 dollars, sixty dollars of which shall be allocated to and be deposited
6 in a fund established pursuant to the provisions of section ninety-sev-
7 en-t of the state finance law, fifty dollars of which shall be allocated
8 to and shall be deposited in a fund established pursuant to the
9 provisions of section ninety-eight-b of the state finance law, twenty-
10 five dollars of which shall be allocated to be deposited in a fund
11 established pursuant to the provisions of section ninety-eight-c of the
12 state finance law, and the remainder of which shall be deposited in the
13 attorney licensing fund. Such fee shall be required of every attorney
14 who is admitted and licensed to practice law in this state, whether or
15 not the attorney is engaged in the practice of law in this state or
16 elsewhere, except attorneys who certify to the chief administrator of
17 the courts that they have either retired from the practice of law or met
18 the employment requirements for participation of the federal public
19 service loan forgiveness program as set out in 20 U.S.C. 1087e(m).
20 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
21 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
22 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
23 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made on or before
24 such date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02651-01-1
