STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10351
IN ASSEMBLY
May 18, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Cook) -- (at
request of the Office of Court Administration) -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules and the criminal proce-
dure law, in relation to the waiver of costs, fees, and expenses for
persons of insufficient means and to eliminating the phrase "poor
person"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The article heading of article 11 of the civil practice law
2 and rules is amended to read as follows:
3 [POOR PERSONS] WAIVER OF COSTS, FEES, AND EXPENSES
4 § 2. The section heading and subdivision (a) of section 1101 of the
5 civil practice law and rules, as amended by chapter 216 of the laws of
6 1992, are amended to read as follows:
7 Motion [for permission to proceed as a poor person] to waive costs,
8 fees, and expenses; affidavit or affirmation; certificate; notice;
9 [waiver of fee;] when motion not required. (a) Motion; affidavit or
10 affirmation. Upon motion of any [person] party, the court in which an
11 action is triable, or to which an appeal has been or will be taken, may
12 [grant permission] waive the costs, fees, and expenses if such party has
13 insufficient means to [proceed as a poor person] pay such costs, fees,
14 and expenses. Where a motion [for leave] to [appeal as a poor person]
15 waive costs, fees, and expenses is [brought to] made in the court in
16 which an appeal has been or will be taken, such court shall hear such
17 motion on the merits and shall not remand such motion to the trial court
18 for consideration. The moving party shall file an affidavit or affirma-
19 tion setting forth the amount and sources of [his or her] such party's
20 income and assets and listing [his or her] any real property owned by
21 such party with its value; that [he or she is unable] such party lacks
22 sufficient means to pay the costs, fees, and expenses necessary to pros-
23 ecute or defend the action or to maintain or respond to the appeal; the
24 nature of the action; sufficient facts so that the merit of the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14252-02-4
A. 10351 2
1 contentions can be ascertained; and whether any other person is benefi-
2 cially interested in any recovery sought and, if so, whether every such
3 person is unable to pay such costs, fees, and expenses. An executor,
4 administrator, or other representative may move for [permission] a waiv-
5 er of costs, fees, and expenses on behalf of a deceased, infant, or
6 incompetent [poor] person.
7 § 3. Section 1102 of the civil practice law and rules, subdivision (b)
8 as amended by chapter 681 of the laws of 1969, and subdivisions (c) and
9 (d) as amended by chapter 773 of the laws of 1965, is amended to read as
10 follows:
11 § 1102. Privileges of [poor person] party with insufficient means to
12 pay costs, fees, and expenses in an action or on appeal. (a) Attorney.
13 [The] Where a court grants a motion pursuant to subdivision (a) of
14 section one thousand one hundred one of this article, the court, in its
15 order [permitting a person to proceed as a poor person] determining the
16 motion, may assign an attorney to the moving party.
17 (b) Stenographic transcript. Where a [party has been permitted by
18 order to appeal as] court grants a [poor person] motion pursuant to
19 subdivision (a) of section one thousand one hundred one of this article,
20 the court clerk, within two days after the filing of [said] such court's
21 order with [him] the court clerk, shall so notify the court stenogra-
22 pher, who, within twenty days of such notification shall make and certi-
23 fy two typewritten transcripts of the stenographic minutes of said trial
24 or hearing, and shall deliver one of said transcripts to the [poor
25 person] moving party or [his] such moving party's attorney, and file the
26 other with the court clerk together with an affidavit of the fact and
27 date of such delivery and filing. The expense of such transcripts shall
28 be a county charge or, in the counties within the city of New York, a
29 city charge, as the case may be, payable to the stenographer out of the
30 court fund upon the certificate of the judge presiding at the trial or
31 hearing. A [poor person] moving party may be furnished with a steno-
32 graphic transcript without fee by order of the court in proceedings
33 other than appeal, the fee therefor to be paid by the county or, in the
34 counties within the city of New York by the city, as the case may be, in
35 the same manner as is paid for transcripts on appeal. Notwithstanding
36 this or any other provision of law, fees paid for stenographic tran-
37 scripts with respect to those proceedings specified in paragraph [(a)] a
38 of subdivision one of section thirty-five of the judiciary law shall be
39 paid by the state in the manner prescribed by subdivision four of
40 section thirty-five of the judiciary law.
41 (c) Appeals. On an appeal or motion for permission to appeal where a
42 [poor person] court grants a motion pursuant to subdivision (a) of
43 section one thousand one hundred one of this article, the moving party
44 may submit typewritten briefs and appendices, furnishing one legible
45 copy for each appellate justice.
46 (d) Costs and fees. [A poor person] Where a court grants a motion
47 pursuant to subdivision (a) of section one thousand one hundred one of
48 this article, the moving party shall not be liable for the payment of
49 any costs or fees unless a recovery by judgment or by settlement is had
50 in [his] such moving party's favor, in which event the court may direct
51 [him] such party to pay out of the recovery all or part of the costs and
52 fees, a reasonable sum for the services and expenses of [his] any attor-
53 ney assigned to such party and any sum expended by the county or city
54 under subdivision (b) of this section.
55 § 4. Section 1103 of the civil practice law and rules is amended to
56 read as follows:
A. 10351 3
1 § 1103. Distribution of recovery in favor of [poor person] party with
2 insufficient means to pay costs, fees, and expenses. [Any] Where a court
3 grants a motion pursuant to subdivision (a) of section one thousand one
4 hundred one of this article, recovery by judgment or by settlement had
5 in favor of [a poor person,] the moving party shall be paid to the clerk
6 of the court in which the order [permitting] determining the [person to
7 proceed as a poor person] motion was entered, to await distribution
8 pursuant to court order.
9 § 5. The section heading and subdivision 1 of section 380.55 of the
10 criminal procedure law, as amended by chapter 616 of the laws of 2021,
11 are amended to read as follows:
12 Application for [poor person relief] waiver of costs, fees, and expenses
13 on appeal.
14 1. Where counsel has been assigned to represent a defendant in a crim-
15 inal action on the ground that the defendant is financially unable to
16 retain counsel, the court may in its discretion at the time of sentenc-
17 ing entertain an application to grant the defendant [poor person relief]
18 waiver of costs, fees, and expenses on appeal. As part of an application
19 for such relief, assigned counsel must represent that the defendant
20 continues to be eligible for assignment of counsel and that granting the
21 application will expedite the appeal. If the court grants the applica-
22 tion, it shall file a written order and shall provide a copy of the
23 order to the appropriate appellate court. The denial of an application
24 shall not preclude the defendant from making a de novo application for
25 [poor person relief] waiver of costs, fees, and expenses to the appro-
26 priate appellate court.
27 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
