BILL NUMBER: S4689
SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the county law, the real property actions and
proceedings law, the vehicle and traffic law, the state finance law and
the judiciary law, in relation to enacting the "NY Civil Gideon Act"
 
PURPOSE:
To establish a right to counsel in civil matters involving the basic
necessities of life.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York
Civil Gideon act".
Section 2: The county law is amended by adding a new article 18-C.
Section 3: The opening paragraph of section 722 of the county law, as
amended by chapter 7 of the laws of 2007, is amended.
Section 4: Subdivision 3 of section 1303 of the real property actions
and proceedings law, as amended by section 5 of part Q of chapter laws
of 2016 is amended.
Section 5: Section 722-c of the county law, as amended by section 3 of
part J of chapter 62 of laws of 2003 is amended.
Section 6: Section 277 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by
adding a new subdivision 7.
Section 7: Section 261 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by
adding a new subdivision 5.
Section 8: The state finance law is amended by adding a new section
98-d.
Section 9: Subdivision 5 of section 468-a of the judiciary law is renum-
bered subdivision 6 and a new subdivision 5 is added.
Section 10: This act shall take effect immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Every year, at least 80% of the civil legal needs of low income New
Yorkers go unmet. These legal needs often concern matters pertaining to
the essentials of life including shelter, food, employment, health, and
family sustainability. The American Bar Association adopted a resolution
in 2006 urging all states to provide legal counsel as a matter of right
to low income persons in adversarial proceedings where basic human needs
are at stake.
The New York State Bar Association followed suit in 2008 reiterating the
need for counsel in certain civil matters. After several studies docu-
menting the need, and an in depth analysis lead by Chief Judge Lippman
of New York's Court of Appeals, it is now uncontroverted fact that the
substantial number of unrepresented litigants in civil legal matters
adversely impacts the quality of justice for all parties in the courts
of this state.
Furthermore, the lack of available civil legal assistance undermines
comprehensive assistance for crime victims, disrupts children and young
adults' education, worsens chronic health problems, increases unemploy-
ment, and increases the cost of medical care. The lack of civil legal
services results too often in homelessness that not only affects the
individual families, but also destabilizes entire neighborhoods.
Due at least in part to the collapse of America's economy that triggered
the "Great Recession," the need for civil legal services and the inabil-
ity of the citizenry to afford legal representation has spread beyond
individuals below the federal poverty guidelines to homeowners and other
middle income New Yorkers who provide the foundation for New York's
economy. The substantial number of unrepresented litigants in civil
legal matters increases the amount of litigation because there is no
incentive to negotiate outside of the courtroom, and undermines our
communities ant the rule of law. It has been found that when a society
is unable to meet its basic human needs, it is in an ongoing state of
emergency. New York has reached that crisis point after more than five
years of severe recession and an historic inequality between civil
plaintiffs represented by expert counsel, and defendants who are unable
to afford the representation upon which the fairness of our legal system
depends. Consequently, the outcomes from litigation between such unbal-
anced parties harms New York's working families and our most vulnerable
populations.
The unmet need for civil legal assistance in the state is profoundly
detrimental to vulnerable New Yorkers and costs taxpayers millions of
dollars by increasing homelessness, poverty, and crime. In order to
address this ongoing state of emergency, the right to counsel in certain
civil matters is imperative. Every day in housing courts around New
York, 90 percent of landlords appear with attorneys, and 90 percent of
the tenants do not. Around the state, housing courtrooms are filled with
legal professionals who know every nuance of landlord-tenant law stand-
ing on one side and impoverished tenants who do not know their rights on
the other. And every day the discomforting reality is that tenants with-
out attorneys are evicted, lose their possessions, become homeless and
their children potentially end up in foster care. This situation must
not continue.
New York is the birthplace of the American abolitionist movement, the
women's rights movement, the labor movement, the gay rights movement and
of many other great moral ideas that we as New Yorkers agreed to imple-
ment when the time was right. Just like all those historic ideas, it is
imperative a civil right to counsel be implement because it is who we
are as New Yorkers. It is much more expensive to provide emergency
solutions than to avert crisis through prudent investment. It is time
to create a "Civil Gideon" that will guarantee indigent defendants a
right to counsel in civil matters where one's fundamental human needs
are at peril.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: S3300 - Referred to Local Government
2019-20: S4047 - Referred to Local Government
2017-18: S.2839 -REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT
2015-16: S.1918 - referred to Local Government
2013-2014: S5993 - Referred to Local Government
 
FISCAL IMPLICATION:
No cost to the state. An assessment will be levied upon lawyers admitted
to practice in the State of New York, and the fund may accept federal,
state or local grants and donations.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S4689: 722 county law, 722-c county law, 227 vehicle and traffic law, 261 vehicle and traffic law