STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8418 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE June 9, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GIANARIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to judicial departments 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 judicial districts; the third 8 department shall consist of the counties embraced within the third, 9 fourth and sixth judicial districts; the fourth department shall consist 10 of the counties embraced within the fifth, seventh [~~and~~], eighth, four- 11 teenth, and fifteenth judicial districts. 12 § 2. Section 140 of the judiciary law, as amended by chapter 10 of the 13 laws of 1948, the opening paragraph and the second undesignated para- 14 graph as amended and the thirteenth undesignated paragraph as added by 15 chapter 690 of the laws of 2007, the first undesignated paragraph as 16 amended by chapter 1006 of the laws of 1981, the tenth undesignated 17 paragraph as amended and the eleventh undesignated paragraph as added by 18 chapter 692 of the laws of 1962, and the twelfth undesignated paragraph 19 as amended by chapter 38 of the laws of 1982, is amended and two new 20 undesignated paragraphs fourteen and fifteen are added to read as 21 follows: 22 § 140. Division of state into judicial districts. The state is hereby 23 divided into [~~thirteen~~] fifteen judicial districts, pursuant to the 24 provisions of the first section of the sixth article of the constitu- 25 tion, which districts shall be arranged as follows: 26 The first judicial district shall consist of the county of New York; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD13372-02-5

S. 8418 2 1 The second judicial district shall consist of the county of Kings; 2 The third judicial district shall consist of the counties of Columbia, 3 Sullivan, Ulster, Greene, Albany, Schoharie and Rensselaer; 4 The fourth judicial district shall consist of the counties of Warren, 5 Saratoga, Washington, Essex, Franklin, Saint Lawrence, Clinton, Montgom- 6 ery, Hamilton, Fulton and Schenectady; 7 The fifth judicial district shall consist of the counties of [~~Ononda-~~ 8 ~~ga,~~] Oneida, Oswego, Herkimer, Jefferson [~~and~~], Lewis, Cayuga, Ontario, 9 Seneca, Wayne and Yates; 10 The sixth judicial district shall consist of the counties of Otsego, 11 Delaware, Madison, Chenango, Broome, Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins, Cortland 12 and Schuyler; 13 The seventh judicial district shall consist of the [~~counties~~] county 14 of [~~Livingston, Wayne, Seneca, Yates, Ontario, Steuben,~~] Monroe [~~and~~ 15 ~~Cayuga~~]; 16 The eighth judicial district shall consist of the [~~counties~~] county of 17 Erie[~~, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Orleans, Niagara, Genesee, Allegany and~~ 18 ~~Wyoming~~]; 19 The ninth judicial district shall consist of the counties of Westches- 20 ter, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland; 21 The tenth judicial district shall consist of the counties of Nassau 22 and Suffolk. 23 The eleventh judicial district shall consist of the county of Queens. 24 The creation of such eleventh district shall not affect or impair the 25 rights, privileges or compensation of any officer or employee of the 26 supreme court in office on the first day of September, nineteen hundred 27 and sixty-two in the tenth judicial district as theretofore constituted; 28 each such officer or employee employed in the county of Queens on such 29 date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the eleventh judi- 30 cial district and each such officer or employee employed in the counties 31 of Nassau and Suffolk on such date shall thereafter be an officer or 32 employee for the tenth judicial district. 33 The twelfth judicial district shall consist of the county of Bronx. 34 The creation of such twelfth district shall not affect or impair the 35 rights, privileges or compensation of any officer or employee of the 36 supreme court in office on the first day of January, nineteen hundred 37 eighty-three in the first judicial district as theretofore constituted; 38 each such officer or employee employed in the county of Bronx on such 39 date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the twelfth judicial 40 district and each such officer or employee employed in the county of New 41 York on such date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the 42 first judicial district. 43 The thirteenth judicial district shall consist of the county of Rich- 44 mond. The creation of such thirteenth district shall not affect or 45 impair the rights, privileges or compensation of any officer or employee 46 of the supreme court in office on the first day of January, two thousand 47 eight in the second judicial district as theretofore constituted; each 48 such officer or employee employed in the county of Richmond on such date 49 shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the thirteenth judicial 50 district and each such officer or employee employed in the county of 51 Kings on such date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the 52 second judicial district. 53 The fourteenth judicial district shall consist of the county of Onon- 54 daga. The creation of such fourteenth district shall not affect or 55 impair the rights, privileges or compensation of any officer or employee 56 of the supreme court in office on the first day of January, two thousand

S. 8418 3 1 twenty-six in the fifth judicial district as theretofore constituted; 2 each such officer or employee employed in the county of Onondaga on such 3 date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the fourteenth judi- 4 cial district and each such officer or employee employed in the counties 5 of Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, and Oswego on such date shall 6 thereafter be an officer or employee for the fifth judicial district. 7 The fifteenth judicial district shall consist of the counties of Alle- 8 gany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Livingston, Niagara, Orleans, 9 Steuben, and Wyoming. The creation of such fifteenth judicial district 10 shall not affect or impair the rights, privileges, or compensation of 11 any officer or employee of the supreme court in office on the first day 12 of January, two thousand twenty-six in the seventh and eighth judicial 13 districts as theretofore constituted; each such officer or employee 14 employed in the counties of Cayuga, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, and Yates on 15 such date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the fifth judi- 16 cial district; each such officer or employee employed in the county of 17 Monroe on such date shall thereafter be an officer or employee for the 18 seventh judicial district; each such officer or employee employed in the 19 county of Erie on such date shall thereafter be an officer or employee 20 for the eighth judicial district; each such officer or employee employed 21 in the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Living- 22 ston, Niagara, Orleans, Steuben, and Wyoming shall thereafter be an 23 officer or employee for the fifteenth judicial district. 24 § 3. Section 140-a of the judiciary law, as amended by chapter 749 of 25 the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows: 26 § 140-a. Number of supreme court justices in each judicial district. 27 The number of justices of the supreme court in each judicial district 28 shall be as follows: 29 1. First district, thirty-eight; 30 2. Second district, fifty-three; 31 3. Third district, seventeen; 32 4. Fourth district, fourteen; 33 5. Fifth district, [~~nineteen~~] fourteen; 34 6. Sixth district, eleven; 35 7. Seventh district, [~~twenty~~] thirteen; 36 8. Eighth district, [~~twenty-eight~~] eighteen; 37 9. Ninth district, thirty-four; 38 10. Tenth district, fifty-one; 39 11. Eleventh district, forty-four; 40 12. Twelfth district, twenty-nine; 41 13. Thirteenth district, nine. 42 14. Fourteenth district, nine. 43 15. Fifteenth district, thirteen. 44 No person may serve in the office of justice of the supreme court 45 unless [~~he or she~~] such person has been admitted to practice law in the 46 state of New York for at least ten years as of the date [~~he or she~~ 47 ~~commences~~] they commence the duties of office. 48 § 4. The following named justices or their successors in office on the 49 effective date of this act shall for the remainder of the terms for 50 which they were elected or appointed be justices of the supreme court in 51 and for the fifth judicial district as reconstituted and continued by 52 this act. 53 Elena Cariola 54 Jason Cook 55 Scott DelConte

S. 8418 4 1 Julie Denton 2 Danielle Fogel 3 Gregory Gilbert 4 James McClusky 5 Charles Merrell 6 William Ramseier 7 Peter Rayhill 8 Mark Rose 9 James Vazzana 10 Jean Marie Westlake 11 The following named justices or their successors in office on the 12 effective date of this act shall for the remainder of the terms for 13 which they were elected or appointed be justices of the supreme court in 14 and for the seventh judicial district as reconstituted and continued by 15 this act. 16 Victoria Argento 17 Vincent Dinolfo 18 Gail Donofrio 19 Daniel Doyle 20 John Gallagher 21 Stephen Lindley 22 Kevin Nasca 23 Alexander Renzi 24 Stacey Romeo 25 Charles Schiano 26 Judith Sinclair 27 Erin Skinner 28 William Taylor 29 The following named justices or their successors in office on the 30 effective date of this act shall for the remainder of the terms for 31 which they were elected or appointed be justices of the supreme court in 32 and for the eighth judicial district as reconstituted and continued by 33 this act. 34 Tracey Bannister 35 John Curran 36 Diane Devlin 37 Paula Feroleto 38 Daniel Furlong 39 Deborah Haendiges 40 Craig Hannah 41 Lynn Keane 42 John Licata 43 Amy Martoche 44 Mark Montour 45 Henry Nowak 46 Catherine Nugent 47 E. Jeanette Ogden 48 Frank Sedita 49 Donna Siwek 50 Mary Slisz 51 Gerald Whalen

S. 8418 5 1 The following named justices or their successors in office on the 2 effective date of this act shall for the remainder of the terms for 3 which they were elected or appointed be justices of the supreme court in 4 and for the fourteenth judicial district as created and constituted by 5 this act. 6 Robert Antonacci 7 Donald Greenwood 8 Deborah Karalunas 9 Kevin Kuehner 10 Joseph Lamendola 11 Rory McMahon 12 James Murphy 13 Gerard Neri 14 The following named justices or their successors in office on the 15 effective date of this act shall for the remainder of the terms for 16 which they were elected or appointed be justices of the supreme court in 17 and for the fifteenth judicial district as created and constituted by 18 this act. 19 Frank Caruso 20 Deborah Chimes 21 Emilio Colaiacovo 22 Gerald Greenan III 23 Grace Hanlon 24 Joseph Lorigo 25 Michael Norris 26 Kelly Vacco 27 Sam Valleriani 28 Joseph Waldorf 29 James Walsh 30 Raymond Walter 31 Paul Wojtaszek 32 § 5. It is the intended object of this act to erect, in the fourth 33 judicial department, the fourteenth judicial district, comprising the 34 county of Onondaga, and the fifteenth judicial district, comprising the 35 counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Livingston, 36 Niagara, Orleans, Steuben, and Wyoming, and to provide for the employees 37 thereof selection, designation, nomination and election in the general 38 election to be held in November 2026 of justices of the fifth, seventh, 39 eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth judicial districts consistent with the 40 foregoing provisions of this act. Any other consistent provision of law, 41 rule or regulation which by its terms or in its application aids in the 42 accomplishment of such object shall be given full force and effect. Any 43 provision which is inconsistent with the accomplishment of such object 44 shall be denied force and effect to the extent that it may be applicable 45 thereto. 46 § 6. If any provision of any section of this act is held void or 47 unconstitutional, all other provisions and all other sections of this 48 act which are not expressly held to be void or unconstitutional shall 49 continue in full force and effect. 50 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately except that the provisions 51 of sections one, two, three, and four of this act shall take effect 52 January 1, 2027.

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