S 161: Expands the eligibility period for indigent legal service attorneys to receive certain loan forgiveness; increases loan reimbursement for certain attorneys who work in legal services with indigent clients.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 161 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. RAMOS, ADDABBO, BRISPORT, CLEARE, FELDER, FERNANDEZ, GOUNARDES, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KAVANAGH, LIU, MAY, MYRIE, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, WEBB -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed 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 forgive- ness program The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph b of subdivision 2 of section 679-e of the 2 education law, as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the 3 laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows: 4 b. "Eligible period" means the [six-year] eight-year period after 5 completion of the [third] second year and before the commencement of the 6 [tenth] eleventh year of employment as an eligible attorney. For 7 purposes of this section, all periods of time during which an admitted 8 attorney was employed as an eligible attorney and all periods of time 9 during which a law school graduate awaiting admission to the New York 10 state bar was employed by a prosecuting [or] agency, criminal defense 11 agency, or non-profit indigent civil legal services corporation as 12 permitted by section four hundred eighty-four of the judiciary law shall 13 be combined. 14 § 2. Paragraph d of subdivision 2 of section 679-e of the education 15 law, as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the laws of 16 2009, is amended to read as follows: 17 d. "Year of qualified service" means the twelve month period measured 18 from the anniversary of the attorney's employment as an eligible attor- 19 ney, or as a law school graduate awaiting admission to the New York 20 state bar employed by a prosecuting [or] agency, criminal defense 21 agency, or non-profit indigent civil legal services corporation as EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00120-01-5 
 S. 161 2 1 permitted by section four hundred eighty-four of the judiciary law, 2 adjusted for any interruption in employment. Vacation or leave time 3 provided by the employer or leave taken for a condition that is a quali- 4 fying reason for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 5 29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1) and (3) shall not be considered an interruption in 6 qualifying employment. Any period of [temporary leave from service] 7 interruption in qualifying employment taken by an eligible attorney 8 shall not be considered in the calculation of qualified service. Howev- 9 er, the period of [temporary leave shall be considered an] interruption 10 in qualifying employment and the calculation of the time period of qual- 11 ified service shall recommence when the eligible attorney returns to 12 [full time] service. 13 § 3. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 679-e of the education 14 law, as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the laws of 15 2009, is amended to read as follows: 16 a. An eligible attorney may apply for reimbursement after the 17 completion of each year of qualified service provided however that 18 reimbursement to each eligible attorney shall not exceed [three thousand 19 four hundred] eight thousand dollars, per qualifying year, subject to 20 appropriations available therefor. The president may establish: (i) an 21 application deadline and (ii) a method of selecting recipients if in any 22 given year there are insufficient funds to cover the needs of all the 23 applicants. Awards shall be within the amounts appropriated for such 24 purpose and based on availability of funds. 25 § 4. Paragraph b of subdivision 3 of section 679-e of the education 26 law, as amended by section 1 of part VV of chapter 56 of the laws of 27 2009, is amended to read as follows: 28 b. An eligible attorney may apply after the completion of the [fourth] 29 second year of qualified service, and annually thereafter after the 30 completion of the [fifth] third through [ninth] eleventh year of quali- 31 fied service, and may seek a student loan expense grant for only the 32 previous year of qualified service within the time periods prescribed by 33 the president. An eligible attorney may receive student loan expense 34 grants for no more than [six] eight years of qualified service within an 35 eligible period. 36 § 5. This act shall take effect April 1, 2026. Nothing in this act 37 shall be implemented in a manner that diminishes the current award or 38 status of eligible attorneys currently participating in the program.