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See Bill Text
A01338 Summary:SAME AS No same as
SPONSOR Dinowitz
COSPNSR
MLTSPNSR Brennan
Rpld & add Art 6 S4 sub a, SS9-a - 16-a, 21-a, 34, 35, 36, 36-a, 36-c & 37, amd
Constn, generally
Proposes a constitutional amendment to merge the County Court, Surrogate`s
Court, Family Court, Court of Claims, District Court and Criminal and Civil
Courts of New York City into the Supreme Court, thereby creating a single,
unified trial court of general jurisdiction and establishes a merit selection
process to assure that justices of the Supreme Court are selected on the basis
of merit criteria.
A01338 Actions:01/19/2005 referred to judiciary
02/10/2005 to attorney-general for opinion
03/28/2005 opinion referred to judiciary
A01338 Votes:
A01338 Memo: TITLE OF BILL : CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
proposing amendments to article 6 of the constitution, in relation to
the composition of judicial departments and the abolishment of the
court of claims, the county court, the family courts, the surrogate`s
court, the city-wide courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction for the
city of New York and the district court, merging the jurisdiction of
such courts with that of the supreme court, providing for the manner
of selecting justices of the supreme court and designating the
justices of the appellate divisions, and the repeal of subdivision a
of section 4 and sections 9-a, 10-a, 11-a, 12-a, 13-a, 14-a, 15-a,
16-a, 21-a, 34, 35, 36, 36-a, 36-c and 37 of article 6 thereof
relating thereto
PURPOSE :
To amend the New York State Constitution to: (1) merge County Court,
Surrogate`s Court, Family Court, the Court of Claims, District Court
and the Criminal and Civil Courts of New York City into the Supreme
Court, thereby eliminating New York`s now badly fragmented trial court
structure in favor of a single, unified trial court of general
jurisdiction; and (2) establish a merit selection process to assure
that justices of the Supreme Court are selected on the basis of merit.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
This proposed constitutional amendment would amend Article VI to merge
New York`s major trial courts into the Supreme Court over a three-year
period, as follows:
* County Court, Family Court and Surrogate`s Court, effective 4/1/02.
* Court of Claims, effective 1/1/03.
* New York City Civil and Criminal Courts and District Court,
effective 1/1/02.
Upon merger of each of these courts, its judges will become justices
of the Supreme Court for the remainder of their respective terms.
This proposed constitutional amendment also would:
* Authorize the Legislature to divide the State into not less than
four nor more than six judicial departments.
* Provide for the transfer of cases and appellate procedure upon
merger.
Additionally, the proposal establishes a merit selection process for
justices of the Supreme Court, featuring:
* For Supreme Court justices within New York City, selection by
gubernatorial appointment upon nomination of the Mayor from a list of
persons residing in the same county as their respective predecessors
who are found to be well-qualified by a city-wide judicial nominating
commission, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
* For statewide justices of the Supreme Court (former Court of Claims
positions), selection by gubernatorial appointment from a list of
persons found to be well-qualified by a statewide judicial nominating
commission, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
* For all other justices, selection by gubernatorial appointment upon
nomination by the chief elected official of the county in which the
justice will sit from a list of persons residing in the same county as
their respective predecessors who are found to be well-qualified by a
judicial district nominating commission, subject to the advice and
consent of the Senate.
* Nonpartisan confirmation elections for incumbent justices of the
Supreme Court after they have served two years of their terms.
* Reappointment at the expiration of a term upon the appropriate
nominating commission`s finding that the person is well-qualified for
reappointment.
In addition to the city-wide and statewide judicial nominating
commissions, nonpartisan judicial nominating commissions will be
established for each judicial district outside New York City to
evaluate the qualifications of candidates for appointment to Supreme
Court in each district. Each Commission will consist of 13 at-large
members, with four appointed by the Governor, three by the Chief Judge
of the Court of Appeals, one by the Presiding Justice of the local
Appellate division, one each by the four legislative leaders, and one
by the President of the New York State Bar Association. Outside New
York City, each commission also will have two regional members from
each county in the judicial district it serves, to be appointed by the
county`s chief elected official; for the city-wide commission within
New York City, four regional members from each county in the judicial
district it serves, two to be appointed by the Mayor, and two to be
appointed by the appropriate Borough President. Regional members will
serve only when a vacancy is to be filled by a resident of their
county. The chief administrator of the courts will be a member of the
statewide judicial nominating commission.
JUSTIFICATION :
This proposed constitutional amendment will effectuate a major reform
in New York State`s court structure by eliminating the widespread
public confusion resulting from operation of our 11 separate trial
courts (the seven courts to be merged plus the Supreme Court, town,
village and city courts). It also will cure the significant
jurisdictional overlap among the trial courts and enable the courts to
operate more efficiently and effectively.
In addition, the amendment establishes a merit selection process for
all justices of the Supreme Court that is similar to the merit
selection process for judges of the Court of Appeals while providing
for local nomination of well-qualified candidates. Under the process,
independent nominating commissions will review the qualifications of
interested applicants and recommend to the appointing authority a
certain number of persons for each vacancy. The process is designed
to assure that justices are selected on the basis of merit criteria
and not on the basis of party, philosophy or ideology. In addition,
granting nominating authority to locally elected officials will allow
for nominations based on knowledge about a county`s particular
judicial needs.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
1999-00 A.6666 Referred to Judiciary, sent to Attorney-General for
opinion, opinion referred to Judiciary.
S.1107 Referred to Judiciary, sent to Attorney-General for opinion.
1997-1998 A.5211 Referred to Judiciary; sent to Attorney-General for
opinion; opinion referred to Judiciary.
S.435 Referred to Judiciary.
1995-1996 S.1614 Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee.
1993-1994 S.7028 Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee.
1991-1992 S.6991 Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee.
2001-02 A.1189 Referred to Judiciary.
2003-04 A.2900 Referred to Judiciary.
EFFECTIVE DATE :
This proposed constitutional amendment will become part of the
Constitution on the first of January after approval and ratification
by the voters. Merger of the trial courts into the Supreme Court
would not take effect until April 1, 2003 (County Court, Family Court
and Surrogate`s Court), January 1, 2004 (Court of Claims), and January
1, 2005 (New York City Civil and Criminal Courts and the District
Court).
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