S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5602
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 18, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. RAGA, EPSTEIN, ALVAREZ -- read once and referred
   to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT directing the chief administrative judge of the New York  unified
   court  system  to  conduct  a  study  on  the office of court adminis-
   tration's housing court guardian ad litem program

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The  chief  administrative  judge of the New York unified
 court system, in consultation with  New  York  state  courts  access  to
 justice  program,  the  unified  court  system's  guardian and fiduciary
 services office, the housing part of the New York city civil court,  New
 York city human resources administration and any other department, divi-
 sion, board, bureau, commission, agency or public authority of the state
 or any political subdivision thereof deemed necessary by the commission-
 ers,  shall  prepare  a  comprehensive study and report on the access to
 justice program's housing court guardian ad litem  program.  Such  study
 shall include an analysis of: (1) the total amount of guardians ad litem
 appointed in New York state during fiscal years ending in 2025 and 2026;
 (2)  the  number of guardian ad litem appointments which have been reim-
 bursed, whether by municipal, state, or federal agencies  or  charitable
 private  or  religious  organizations;  (3) an accounting of all funding
 streams and budget allocations specifically identified for the  guardian
 ad  litem  program; (4) an analysis of current guardian ad litem compen-
 sation and proposals for guardian ad  litem  compensation  structure  to
 better incentivize guardian ad litem recruitment and retention.
   §  2.  The  chief  administrative  judge of the New York unified court
 system shall publish such report to the governor, the  temporary  presi-
 dent  of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of
 the senate, and the minority leader of the assembly, no later  than  the
 first  day  of  July  of  the year succeeding the date on which this act
 shall have become a law.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD02550-01-5