NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9521
SPONSOR: Conrad TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the judiciary law, in relation to requiring town and
village courts compensate temporary interpreters for deaf or hard of
hearing persons
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Town and Village Justice Courts are facing exponential cost increases
with the growing demand for court interpreters. The New York State
Unified Court System has raised the per diem rate for full day - $385
and half day services - $220 as well as milage rates to meet this
demand. However, since the 1990s Town and Village Courts have received
only $25 per day reimbursement from their county government to help
offset the cost.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends chapter 15 Section 387 of judiciary law of 1975 to
increase the rate of reimbursement county governments from $25 per day
to one hundred ten dollars ($110) per day for services by a temporary
court interpreter. If the cost is more than $110 the remaining balance
will be paid by the town or village where the court is located.
Section 2 provides the same rate increases for interpreters for the deaf
or hard of hearing.
JUSTIFICATION:
As per our state constitution, each town must support a justice court.
Proper representation is a hallmark of equal access to justice. It is
every person's right to be treated fairly. Whenever necessary, it is the
Court's responsibility to provide in=person translation services. Fail-
ure to provide appropriate translation services may create an appealable
issue as it may impact the defendant's right to due process.• Due to the
increase in cultural diversity, our town and village courts are seeing
more and more demand for interpreter services for multiple languages as
well as for the deaf and hard of hearing. Our county government needs to
provide additional support to help defray the cost for these services.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Legislation
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
No cost for state government. County government costs TBD.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
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9521
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CONRAD, BERGER, BURDICK, BUTTENSCHON, P. CARROLL,
LUNSFORD, McMAHON, RAMOS, SCHIAVONI, SEAWRIGHT, SHIMSKY, SAYEGH --
read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to requiring town and
village courts compensate temporary interpreters for deaf or hard of
hearing persons
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 387 of the judiciary law, as amended by chapter 15
2 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 387. Temporary appointment of interpreters. If the services of an
4 interpreter be required in any court and there be no unemployed official
5 interpreter to act therein, the court may appoint an interpreter to act
6 temporarily in such court. Such interpreter shall before entering upon
7 [his] such interpreter's duties file with the clerk of the court the
8 constitutional oath of office. The court shall fix the compensation of
9 such interpreter [at not more than twenty-five] a minimum of one hundred
10 ten dollars per day for each day's actual attendance by direction of the
11 presiding judge or justice and such compensation shall be paid from the
12 court fund of the county upon the order of the court, provided, however,
13 that if the compensation of the temporary interpreter is greater than
14 one hundred ten dollars per day, the amount in excess of one hundred
15 ten dollars shall be paid by the town or village where the court is
16 located.
17 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 390 of the judiciary law, as amended by
18 chapter 272 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
19 1. Whenever any deaf or hard of hearing person is a party to a legal
20 proceeding of any nature, or a witness or juror or prospective juror
21 therein, the court in all instances shall appoint a qualified interpret-
22 er who is certified by a recognized national or New York state creden-
23 tialing authority as approved by the chief administrator of the courts
24 to interpret the proceeding to, and the testimony of, such deaf or hard
25 of hearing person; provided, however, where compliance with this section
26 would cause unreasonable delay in court proceedings, the court shall be
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02996-01-5
A. 9521 2
1 authorized to temporarily appoint an interpreter who is otherwise quali-
2 fied to interpret the proceedings to, and the testimony of, such deaf or
3 hard of hearing person until a certified interpreter is available. In
4 any criminal action in a state-funded court, the court shall also
5 appoint such an interpreter to interpret the proceedings to a deaf or
6 hard of hearing person who is the victim of the crime or may appoint
7 such interpreter for the deaf or hard of hearing members of the immedi-
8 ate family (parent or spouse) of a victim of the crime when specifically
9 requested to do so by such victim or family member. The fee for all such
10 interpreting services shall be a charge upon the state at rates of
11 compensation established by rule of the chief administrator; except that
12 where such interpreting services are rendered in a justice court, the
13 fee therefor shall be paid as provided by law in effect on July first,
14 nineteen hundred ninety-one, and where temporary interpreter services
15 are rendered, the fee therefor shall be paid as provided in section
16 three hundred eighty-seven of this article.
17 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
