STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1944 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 14, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. WEBER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to creating a fourteenth judicial district The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 70 of the judiciary law, as amended by chapter 690 2 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 70. Judicial departments. The state is hereby divided into four 4 judicial departments. The first department shall consist of the counties 5 embraced within the first and twelfth judicial districts; the second 6 department shall consist of the counties embraced within the second, 7 ninth, tenth, eleventh [and], thirteenth and fourteenth judicial 8 districts; the third department shall consist of the counties embraced 9 within the third, fourth and sixth judicial districts; the fourth 10 department shall consist of the counties embraced within the fifth, 11 seventh and eighth judicial districts. 12 § 2. The opening paragraph and the ninth undesignated paragraph of 13 section 140 of the judiciary law, the opening paragraph as amended by 14 chapter 690 of the laws of 2007 and the ninth undesignated paragraph as 15 amended by chapter 10 of the laws of 1948, are amended and a new four- 16 teenth undesignated paragraph is added to read as follows: 17 The state is hereby divided into [thirteen] fourteen judicial 18 districts, pursuant to the provisions of the first section of the sixth 19 article of the constitution, which districts shall be arranged as 20 follows: 21 The ninth judicial district shall consist of the [counties] county of 22 Westchester[, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland]; 23 The fourteenth judicial district shall consist of the counties of 24 Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, and Rockland. The creation of such fourteenth 25 district shall not affect or impair the rights, privileges or compen- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03502-01-5
S. 1944 2 1 sation of any officer or employee of the supreme court in office on the 2 first day of January, two thousand twenty-six in the ninth judicial 3 district as theretofore constituted; each such officer or employee 4 employed in the counties of Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, and Rockland on 5 such date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the fourteenth 6 judicial district and each such officer or employee employed in the 7 county of Westchester on such date shall thereafter be an officer or 8 employee for the ninth judicial district. 9 § 3. Section 140-a of the judiciary law, as amended by chapter 749 of 10 the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows: 11 § 140-a. Number of supreme court justices in each judicial district. 12 The number of justices of the supreme court in each judicial district 13 shall be as follows: 14 1. First district, thirty-eight; 15 2. Second district, fifty-three; 16 3. Third district, seventeen; 17 4. Fourth district, fourteen; 18 5. Fifth district, nineteen; 19 6. Sixth district, eleven; 20 7. Seventh district, twenty; 21 8. Eighth district, twenty-eight; 22 9. Ninth district, [thirty-four] eighteen; 23 10. Tenth district, fifty-one; 24 11. Eleventh district, forty-four; 25 12. Twelfth district, twenty-nine; 26 13. Thirteenth district, nine; 27 14. Fourteenth district, eleven. 28 No person may serve in the office of justice of the supreme court 29 unless [he or she] such person has been admitted to practice law in the 30 state of New York for at least ten years as of the date [he or she] such 31 person commences the duties of office. 32 § 4. The following named justices or their successors in office on the 33 effective date of this act shall for the remainder of the terms for 34 which they were elected or appointed be justices of the supreme court in 35 and for the ninth judicial district as reconstituted and continued by 36 this act. 37 Hon. Robert M. DiBella 38 Hon. David F. Everett 39 Hon. Keri A. Fiore 40 Hon. William J. Giacomo 41 Hon. Hal B. Greenwald 42 Hon. James L. Hyer 43 Hon. Linda S. Jamieson 44 Hon. Nancy Quinn Koba 45 Hon. Joan B. Lefkowitz 46 Hon. Lewis Lubell 47 Hon. Janet C. Malone 48 Hon. Paul I. Marx 49 Hon. James McCarty 50 Hon. Anne E. Minihan 51 Hon. Alexandra D. Murphy 52 Hon. Robert S. Ondrovic 53 Hon. Amy S. Puerto 54 Hon. Thomas Quinones 55 Hon. Larry J. Schwartz 56 Hon. Rolf M. Thorsen
S. 1944 3 1 Hon. Gretchen M. Walsh 2 Hon. Charles D. Woo 3 The following named justices or their successors in office on the 4 effective date of this act shall for the remainder of the terms for 5 which they were elected or appointed be justices of the supreme court in 6 and for the fourteenth judicial district as created and constituted by 7 this act. Any positions that were vacant on June 15, 2024 shall be 8 justices of the ninth judicial district. 9 Hon. Gina C. Capone 10 Hon. Victor G. Grossman 11 Hon. Christi J. Acker 12 Hon. Thomas R. Davis 13 Hon. Maria G. Rosa 14 Hon. Elena M. Goldberg-Velazquez 15 Hon. Sandra Sciortino 16 Hon. David J. Squirrell 17 Hon. Maria S. Vazquez-Doles 18 Hon. E. Loren Williams 19 Hon. David S. Zuckerman 20 Hon. Christie L. D'Alessio 21 Hon. Sherri L. Eisenpress 22 Hon. Hal B. Greenwald 23 Hon. Thomas Zugibe 24 § 5. If any provisions of any section of this act shall be held void 25 or unconstitutional, all other provisions and all other sections of this 26 act which are not expressly held to be void or unconstitutional shall 27 continue in full force and effect. 28 § 6. This act shall take effect January 1, 2026.