Bill Text: NY S08636 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Excuses prospective jurors who are over the age of 75 or have a health condition putting such person at greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19 from service.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-08 - PRINT NUMBER 8636A [S08636 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S08636-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8636--A

                    IN SENATE

                                      June 26, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sen. GAUGHRAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Rules  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT  to amend the judiciary law, in relation to excusing prospective
          jurors who are over the age of 75 or have a health  condition  putting
          such  person  at  greater  risk  for severe illness from COVID-19; and
          providing for the repeal of such provisions upon the expiration there-
          of

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. Paragraph 1 of subdivision (a) of section 517 of the judi-
     2  ciary law, as amended by chapter 380 of the laws of 2019, is amended and
     3  a new paragraph 3 is added to read as follows:
     4    (1) Except as otherwise provided in  [paragraph]  paragraphs  two  and
     5  three of this subdivision, the commissioner of jurors may, in his or her
     6  discretion,  on  the  application  of  a  prospective juror who has been
     7  summoned to attend, excuse such prospective juror from  a  part  or  the
     8  whole  of  the  time  of  jury  service or may postpone the time of jury
     9  service to a later day during the same or any  subsequent  term  of  the
    10  court, provided  that if the prospective juror is a breastfeeding mother
    11  and submits with her application a note from a physician indicating that
    12  the prospective juror is breastfeeding, the  commissioner  shall  excuse
    13  the prospective juror or postpone the time of jury service. The applica-
    14  tion  shall  be  presented  to the commissioner at such time and in such
    15  manner as he or she shall require, except that an application for  post-
    16  ponement of the initial date for jury service may be made by telephone.
    17    (3) An application to be excused from jury service shall be granted if
    18  the  prospective juror is over the age of seventy-five or if such appli-
    19  cant submits a letter with their application from a health care provider
    20  stating that the prospective juror has an  underlying  health  condition
    21  which puts such person at greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
    22    §  2.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
    23  deemed repealed April 1, 2021.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD16785-02-0