Senate BillIntroduced
S 481: Provides that the court may, in its discretion, dispense with the defendant's personal appearance at an arraignment and conduct an electronic arraignment.
What S 481 does, verified January 9, 2026
The bill allows courts to conduct electronic appearances in certain counties, with the consent of the defendant and the authorization of the chief administrator of the courts. The defendant must provide written consent at the start of each electronic appearance. This provision is intended to streamline the process of arraignments and reduce the need for defendants to appear in person. The amendments to the law take effect immediately, but the changes to section 182.20 of the criminal procedure law will be repealed after the repeal of the section itself.
Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: REFERRED TO CODES (2026-01-07)Alert me
Author and sponsors
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| Jan. 07, 2026 | REFERRED TO CODES |
| Jan. 08, 2025 | REFERRED TO CODES |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 8, 2025 · 346 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 481 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. OBERACKER, GALLIVAN -- read twice and ordered print- ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to the use of video monitoring equipment to conduct arraignments The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 182.20 of the criminal procedure 2 law, as separately amended by chapters 232, 279 and 285 of the laws of 3 2024, is amended to read as follows: 4 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided 5 in section 182.30 of this article, the court, in its discretion, may 6 dispense with the personal appearance of the defendant, except an 7 appearance at a hearing or trial, and conduct an electronic appearance 8 in connection with a criminal action pending in [Albany, Bronx, Broome,9Erie, Jefferson, Kings, Monroe, New York, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga,10Ontario, Orange, Orleans, Oswego, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland,11Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Seneca, Steuben, Tompkins, Chautauqua, Cattarau-12gus, Clinton, Essex, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Sullivan, Warren, Westches-13ter, Suffolk, Herkimer, Franklin, Chemung, Schuyler, Yates, Delaware,14Otsego or Schoharie] any county, provided that the chief administrator 15 of the courts has authorized the use of electronic appearance and the 16 defendant, after consultation with counsel, consents on the record. Such 17 consent shall be required at the commencement of each electronic appear- 18 ance to such electronic appearance. 19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend- 20 ments to subdivision 1 of section 182.20 of the criminal procedure law 21 made by section one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such 22 section and shall be deemed repealed therewith. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01843-01-5
Text of S 481 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions