Bill Text: NY A05424 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides an exemption from jury duty for breastfeeding women; allows that such breastfeeding mother's jury duty shall be postponed up to two years after the date on which such service otherwise is to commence.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-1)

Status: (Passed) 2019-10-21 - SIGNED CHAP.380 [A05424 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A05424-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          5424
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 12, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. CRESPO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARRETT,
          BLAKE,  BRAUNSTEIN,  DAVILA,  HEVESI,  HYNDMAN,  JAFFEE,  JEAN-PIERRE,
          JOYNER, RAIA, SIMON, SIMOTAS, STECK -- read once and referred  to  the
          Committee on Judiciary
        AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to providing an exemption
          from jury duty for breastfeeding women
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Paragraphs 1 and 2 of subdivision (a) of section 517 of the
     2  judiciary law, paragraph 1 as amended and paragraph 2 as added by  chap-
     3  ter 86 of the laws of 1995, are amended to read as follows:
     4    (1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph two of this subdivision,
     5  the  commissioner of jurors may, in his or her discretion, on the appli-
     6  cation of a prospective juror who has been summoned  to  attend,  excuse
     7  such  prospective  juror  from  a  part or the whole of the time of jury
     8  service or may postpone the time of jury service to a later  day  during
     9  the  same  or  any  subsequent  term  of the court, provided that if the
    10  prospective juror is a breastfeeding mother and submits with her  appli-
    11  cation  a note from a physician indicating that the prospective juror is
    12  breastfeeding, the commissioner shall excuse the  prospective  juror  or
    13  postpone the time of jury service. The application shall be presented to
    14  the  commissioner  at  such  time  and in such manner as he or she shall
    15  require, except that an application for postponement of the initial date
    16  for jury service may be made by telephone.
    17    (2) An application for postponement of jury service shall  be  granted
    18  hereunder  provided:  (i) such service has not already been postponed or
    19  excused, (ii) the application is made at such time and in such manner as
    20  the commissioner of jurors requires, and (iii) the postponement is to  a
    21  date certain when the court is in session not more than six months after
    22  the date on which such service otherwise is to commence and such date is
    23  selected  by  the  prospective  juror, provided  that if the prospective
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03064-01-9
        A. 5424                             2
     1  juror is a breastfeeding mother, the postponement date  may  be  a  date
     2  certain  up  to two years after the date on which such service otherwise
     3  is to commence.
     4    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.