What's happening
This bill clarifies how periods of unpaid leave or military, family, or medical leave affect loan forgiveness eligibility for district attorney and indigent legal services attorneys.
Why it matters
Clarifies how unpaid leave affects loan forgiveness eligibility. , ensuring that attorneys who take unpaid leave (such as for personal reasons) do not have that time counted toward the required service period for loan forgiveness, but also do not lose eligibility—rather, their service period is extended.
Recognizes and supports attorneys facing life events. by allowing time away for military service, maternity/paternity leave, FMLA, or compensable injury to potentially count toward the required service—at the president’s discretion—making the program more flexible and humane for those with significant life or family obligations.
Reduces uncertainty for attorneys and employers. by laying out clear rules about which absences do and do not count, which can help attorneys plan their careers and personal lives without risking unexpected ineligibility for loan forgiveness.
Applies retroactively to 2010. , which means attorneys who took qualifying leave in the past may benefit from these clarifications, possibly making some individuals newly eligible for forgiveness who otherwise might have been excluded.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Expand Attorney Loan Forgiveness
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to higher education
- Referred to higher education
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
615
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the New York state district attorney and indigent legal services attorney loan forgiveness program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph b of subdivision 2 of section 679-e of the education law, as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
b. "Eligible period" means the six-year period after completion of the third year and before the commencement of the tenth year of employment as an eligible attorney. For purposes of this section, all periods of time during which an admitted attorney was employed as an eligible attorney and all periods of time during which a law school graduate awaiting admission to the New York state bar was employed by a prosecuting or criminal defense agency as permitted by section four hundred eighty-four of the judiciary law shall be combined. A period of leave without pay, or other periods which an eligible attorney is not in a pay status shall not count toward the completion of required service period reemployment. The service completion date shall be extended by the total time spent in non-pay status. However, absence because of uniformed service with a recognized branch of the United States military, authorized maternity/paternity, FMLA, or due to compensable injury shall be considered creditable, within the sole discretion of the president, toward the required service period upon reemployment.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after January 1, 2010.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04296-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.