S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
766
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
January 6, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. COONEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the New York state
district attorney and indigent legal services attorney loan forgive-
ness program
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph b of subdivision 2 of section 679-e of the educa-
tion law, as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the laws
of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
b. "Eligible period" means the six-year period after completion of the
third year and before the commencement of the tenth year of employment
as an eligible attorney. For purposes of this section, all periods of
time during which an admitted attorney was employed as an eligible
attorney and all periods of time during which a law school graduate
awaiting admission to the New York state bar was employed by a prosecut-
ing or criminal defense agency as permitted by section four hundred
eighty-four of the judiciary law shall be combined. A PERIOD OF LEAVE
WITHOUT PAY, OR OTHER PERIODS WHICH AN ELIGIBLE ATTORNEY IS NOT IN A PAY
STATUS SHALL NOT COUNT TOWARD THE COMPLETION OF REQUIRED SERVICE PERIOD
REEMPLOYMENT. THE SERVICE COMPLETION DATE SHALL BE EXTENDED BY THE TOTAL
TIME SPENT IN NON-PAY STATUS. HOWEVER, ABSENCE BECAUSE OF UNIFORMED
SERVICE WITH A RECOGNIZED BRANCH OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, AUTHOR-
IZED MATERNITY/PATERNITY, FMLA, OR DUE TO COMPENSABLE INJURY SHALL BE
CONSIDERED CREDITABLE, WITHIN THE SOLE DISCRETION OF THE PRESIDENT,
TOWARD THE REQUIRED SERVICE PERIOD UPON REEMPLOYMENT.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to
have been in full force and effect on and after January 1, 2010.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01578-01-3