Directs the legislature to ensure that the number of judges and justices in districts and courts is sufficient; directs the chief administrator of the courts to report on the sufficiency of the number of judges and justices in each court and to make recommendations on such numbers.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3305 Revised 4/29/2025
SPONSOR: Bores TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the judiciary law, in relation to the sufficiency of the
number of judges and justices in districts and courts
PURPOSE:
This bill would amend the Judiciary Law to create a regular systematic
assessment of the courts' specific judicial needs in each district and
require the Chief Administrative Judge to analyze the number of judges
and justices in each court and request changes when appropriate.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one would create a new section in the Judiciary Law that would
empower the legislature to create a regular systematic assessment of the
courts' specific judicial needs.
Section two would require the Chief Administrative Judge to analyze the
number of judges and justices in each court and request adjustments as
necessary.
JUSTIFICATION:
Each court in New York State should have the right number of judges to
perform its duties and provide justice to the people of the State, and
there must be an adequate number of judges to provide civil litigants
with access to the court and to assure that all parties in criminal
cases are able to pursue justice in the courts. It is vital that New
York take a more deliberate approach in assigning judges in each judi-
cial district. To that end, we must codify a regular systematic assess-
ment of the courts' specific needs as many other states and the federal
courts have done.
The Chief Administrative Judge plays a role in this process and should
be tasked with the responsibility to evaluate the adequacy of current
judicial resources and issue a report to the Legislature setting forth
their findings and recommendations, so that the Legislature may carry
out its function. While New York State's Chief Administrative Judge has
the duty to keep and report data for the Unified Court System under the
Judiciary Law, they merely have the option to request a change in the
number of judges as needed. The Chief Administrative Judge does not have
the duty to request a change in the number of judges. Without a clear
mandate requiring the Chief Administrative Judge to evaluate and recom-
mend adjustments, it is unlikely that such requests for additional judg-
es will be made.
The Chief Administrative Judge's statutory responsibility to annually
evaluate the adequacy of current court resources and issue an annual
report should include a directive to analyze the number of judges in
each court and request changes when appropriate-something not currently
required in the reporting process. This annual report would inform the
Legislature in carrying out its constitutional duty to set the number of
judicial seats in each court, giving the court responsibility to
initially identify the need to change the number of , judicial seats.
Whether the courts are operating at peak efficiency should be determined
through data and analysis, not speculation.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A10041 of 2023/2024
A10041 - amend and recommit to judiciary
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect 180 days after passage.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3305
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BORES, SEPTIMO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to the sufficiency of the
number of judges and justices in districts and courts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The judiciary law is amended by adding a new section 219-f
2 to read as follows:
3 § 219-f. Sufficiency of number of judges and justices in districts and
4 courts. In exercising its powers pursuant to subdivision b of section
5 six of article six of the constitution, the legislature shall seek to
6 ensure that each district and court therein shall have sufficient
7 numbers of judges and justices to perform its functions in a thorough
8 and efficient manner, considering the number of individuals residing in
9 a given judicial district, the number of cases filed in each court, the
10 complexity of such cases, the extent of delays in the disposition of
11 cases in each court, and any other factors used by recognized national
12 or state authorities who study the proper allocation of judicial
13 resources.
14 § 2. Paragraph (j) of subdivision 1 of section 212 of the judiciary
15 law, as added by chapter 156 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as
16 follows:
17 (j) Collect, compile and publish statistics and other data with
18 respect to the unified court system in order to assist the legislature
19 in performing its functions pursuant to section two hundred nineteen-f
20 of this article and submit annually, on or before the fifteenth day of
21 March, to the legislature and the governor a report of [his] such admin-
22 istrator's activities and the state of the unified court system during
23 the preceding year. Such report shall include recommendations on the
24 number of judges and justices needed in each court, which recommenda-
25 tions shall be acted upon in such manner as the legislature may direct.
26 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
27 it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04224-01-5
