Bill Text: NY S00773 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Establishes the "public interest legal services loan assistance fund" of the state of New York (to consist of a portion of bar examination fees and other funds appropriated by the legislature therefor and such other monies as may be credited or otherwise transferred from any other fund or source pursuant to law, including voluntary contributions); provides for administration of such fund to assist public service attorneys practicing public interest law in repaying their student loans; defines certain terms and adds other related provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-27 - PRINT NUMBER 773A [S00773 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-S00773-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         773--A
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 7, 2015
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance -- recommitted  to
          the  Committee  on Finance in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --
          committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
          recommitted to said committee
        AN ACT to amend the state finance law and the judiciary law, in relation
          to  establishing  a fund to assist public service attorneys practicing
          public service law to repay their student loans
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  This  act  shall be known and may be cited as the "public
     2  interest legal services loan assistance act".
     3    § 2. Declaration of policy and  legislative  intent.  The  legislature
     4  reaffirms  that  the  efficient  and effective provision of high-quality
     5  legal services on behalf of the state, its  political  subdivisions  and
     6  the populations therein depends on competent, dedicated attorneys making
     7  a  long-term  commitment to public-service work, whether as prosecutors,
     8  public defenders  or  other  indigent  defense  attorneys,  civil  legal
     9  services  attorneys,  or the equivalent. The legislature finds, however,
    10  that because these attorneys  often  carry  significant  and  increasing
    11  student  loan  debt  burdens  and have grave difficulty in repaying such
    12  debts on the relatively low salaries paid by most public interest  posi-
    13  tions, many of these attorneys are being forced to leave public service.
    14  The loss of so many capable public interest attorneys, often at the very
    15  time they have achieved sufficient training and experience to handle the
    16  most  complex  matters  of  public concern, has had an adverse impact on
    17  government generally and reduced the capacity of the criminal and  civil
    18  justice systems to provide  the consistently high-quality legal services
    19  the  people  of  New  York state deserve. The legislature finds that the
    20  difficulty of attracting  and  retaining  well-trained  public  interest
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01709-02-6