S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7496
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 31, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to authorize the office of court administration  to  pay  certain
   judicial compensation
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. The legislature finds and declares the following:
   Under New York state law, supreme court justices must retire on Decem-
 ber 31 of the year that they turn 70, unless they request permission  to
 continue  to  serve  an  additional  six years, in three two-year terms,
 until the age of 76, under a process called certification.  Until  2020,
 justices  were routinely granted certification. In September 2020, 46 of
 the 49 supreme court and  appellate  court  justices  who  applied  were
 denied  certification  by  the  office  of court administration based on
 potential future budget cuts that never materialized, despite an  actual
 need  for  the  services  of  those  justices. The justices who had been
 denied certification were permitted to reapply in April 2021,  but  were
 not  permitted  to resume their service as justices until June 15, 2021.
 15 of the justices denied certification continue to serve the people  of
 New  York as supreme court justices or appellate division justices. As a
 result of that denial of certification, those justices were deprived  of
 salaries  they  otherwise  would  have  been  paid for five and one-half
 months, for the period from January 1, 2021 to June 14, 2021, as well as
 the concomitant pension credit for that period. Those justices who  took
 their  pensions  during  that period and continue to work as of June 15,
 2023, will be required to repay the New York state and local  employees'
 retirement system the full amount of the pension payments received, with
 interest.  In  2021  the  legislature  allocated monies to the office of
 court administration to make those 15 justices whole.
   This body is in agreement with the  office  of  court  administration,
 that  in  the interest of fairness, and for the purpose of remedying the
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11644-01-3
              

 S. 7496                             2
 
 injury to those justices who were, through no fault of their own, denied
 their compensation and the opportunity to continue to serve  the  people
 of  the  state  of New York, those justices should be made whole, to the
 extent possible, in terms of their salary and their pensions.
   §  2.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation,
 the office of court administration  is  authorized  to  pay  to  fifteen
 supreme  court  justices  and  appellate  division  justices,  who  were
 initially denied certification in September 2020 but resumed service  in
 June  2021,  the  salaries they would have earned during the period from
 January 1, 2021 to June 14, 2021. In the event that  any  such  justices
 worked  full-  or part-time during the period of January 1, 2021 to June
 15, 2021, outside earnings from such employment shall be  deducted  from
 the  amount  payable  as judicial compensation, so that his or her total
 wages shall not exceed the amount that such justice would have earned as
 wages from New York state during that period. The office of court admin-
 istration is also authorized to pay to the  New  York  state  and  local
 employees'  retirement  system  the amount that would have been deducted
 and paid to such retirement system for the  pension  credit  accrued  by
 each  justice during that period. All such payments shall be made out of
 moneys appropriated therefor. The New York state  and  local  employees'
 retirement system is authorized to reinstate the fifteen justices to the
 retirement  system  for  that  period nunc pro tunc, and to adjust their
 seniority and credit accordingly. The comptroller is authorized to waive
 the payment of interest by any of the fifteen justices who took  his  or
 her pension during the period from January 1, 2021 to June 14, 2021, and
 is now required to repay it.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.