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.
Summary
This bill would add a new Judiciary Law provision directing the Legislature, when allocating judgeships under the state constitution, to seek to ensure that each judicial district and court has enough judges and justices to perform its work thoroughly and efficiently. In deciding what is sufficient, the bill directs consideration of factors such as the population of the district, the number of cases filed, the complexity of the cases, delays in case disposition, and other criteria used by recognized state or national authorities studying judicial resource allocation.
The bill also amends the duties of the chief administrator of the courts to require annual reporting on the state of the unified court system, including recommendations on the number of judges and justices needed in each court. Those recommendations would then be acted on in whatever manner the Legislature directs. The measure would take effect 180 days after becoming law.
Impact
The bill would not itself create new judgeships, but it would change state law by establishing a formal legislative standard and reporting framework for evaluating judicial staffing levels. It would amend Judiciary Law sections governing legislative allocation of judges and the chief administrator’s reporting duties, making court workload, population, complexity, and delay explicit factors in assessing whether courts have sufficient judicial resources. The practical effect would be to strengthen the statutory basis for future decisions about adding, reallocating, or reviewing judgeships across New York’s courts.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes, the measure appears to be framed as an administrative and resource-allocation reform rather than a controversial policy change. Its stated purpose is to improve court efficiency and responsiveness by matching judicial staffing to caseload and delay conditions. With no documented opposition or recorded vote history in the provided materials, the available context suggests a neutral-to-supportive posture focused on court capacity and administration.
Contention
The main point of potential contention is not the goal of improving court efficiency, but how judicial sufficiency would be measured and who would control the resulting staffing decisions. The bill gives the Legislature a duty to seek sufficient judgeships while also requiring the court system’s chief administrator to provide recommendations, which could raise questions about separation of powers, budget impacts, and whether the Legislature should be bound by workload-based metrics. Another possible issue is that adding judgeships can have fiscal consequences, so disagreements may arise over whether the state should expand the bench in response to caseload data.
Same As
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.
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.
Courts; disqualification of judges; motion; directing chief judge of the county; presiding judge of administrative district; rehearing; effective date.
Requires judges or justices in a court that exercises criminal jurisdiction, including town and village justices, family court judges, and justices of the supreme court who regularly handle matrimonial matters, and court clerks of such courts to attend a program approved by the chief administrator of the courts addressing issues relating to domestic violence totaling at least ten hours every two years; requires law enforcement officers to complete ten hours of domestic violence training every two years.
(Constitutional Amendment) Increases the number of associate supreme court justices and increases the required number of justices concurring in order to render judgment (Item #6) (OR INCREASE GF EX See Note)