NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7215
SPONSOR: Smullen TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the county law, in relation to the
full-time status of the district attorney of Hamilton county
SUMMARY OF GENERAL PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision 8 of Section 700 of the County Law to make
the District Attorney of Hamilton County a full-time position.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
EXISTING LAW:
Judiciary Law Section 183-a affords county legislatures the option of
designating the office of district attorney as a full-time position.
Section 183-a links county district attorneys' salaries with judicial
salaries, requiring a district attorney's salary to be equal to or high-
er than either the county court judge or supreme court judge in a coun-
ty, depending on full or part-time status. On April 1, 2016 the State
legislature approved the salary raises recommended by the New York State
Commission on Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Compensation. This
statute increased all state judge (and most district attorney) salaries
in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Chapter 1049 of the Laws of 1974, amended subdivisions 8 and 10 of
section 700 of the County Law and section 183-a of the Judiciary Law to
extend to counties with populations ranging from 40,000 to 100,000 the
option of designating the position of district attorney full time,
thereby becoming eligible to receive State aid in the amount of $10,000
per year to be applied to the district attorney's salary.
JUSTIFICATION:
District attorneys retain the ultimate, non-delegable duty to conduct
all prosecutions for crimes and offenses cognizable by courts of the
county for which he or she has been elected. However, law enforcement
needs differ in counties of various sizes.
Section 183-a of the Judiciary Law and subdivision 8 of section 700 of
the County Law evidence a legislative recognition that smaller counties
might find it burdensome to comply with the statutory salary require-
ments, thus, leaving it to the county legislature to determine whether o
r not the position of district attorney would be full time and subject
to those salary requirements.
The office of the District Attorney of Hamilton County by its nature
exceeds that of a part-time position, and conducting prosecution s for
crimes throughout the county requires a full-time commitment. As such,
the applicable local government has adopted a resolution to make the
position of District Attorney of Hamilton County a full-time position
and subject to statutory salary requirements.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPACT FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7215
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 12, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SMULLEN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the county law, in relation to the full-time status of
the district attorney of Hamilton county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 8 of section 700 of the county law, as amended
2 by chapter 419 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
3 8. The district attorney of a county having a population of more than
4 one hundred thousand according to the last federal census [and], the
5 district attorney of Hamilton county, the district attorney of Essex
6 county and any county having a population of more than forty thousand
7 but less than one hundred thousand according to the last federal census,
8 the board of supervisors of which has designated such office as a full-
9 time position, shall give his whole time to his duties and shall not
10 engage in the practice of law, act as an arbitrator, referee or compen-
11 sated mediator in any action or proceeding or matter or engage in the
12 conduct of any other profession or business which interferes with the
13 performance of his duties as district attorney.
14 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09006-01-9
