§ 8 — Emergency relocations of court terms

§ 8. Emergency relocations of court terms. 1. Notwithstanding any\nother provision of law, if an emergency or other exigent circumstance or\nthe imminent threat thereof prevents the safe and practicable holding of\na term of any court at the location designated by law therefor, then:\n a. the governor, after consultation with the chief judge or his or her\ndesignee if practicable, may by executive order appoint another location\nfor the temporary holding of such term if it is a term of a trial court;\nor\n b. where the governor has not acted pursuant to paragraph a of this\nsubdivision, or if it is a term of a court other than a trial court, the\nchief judge or his or her designee (or the presiding justice of an\nappellate division or his or her designee if it is a term of such\nappellate division or of an appellate term established in the judicial\ndepartment served by such appellate division) may by order appoint\nanother location for the temporary holding of such term; except that,\nwhere the court is a trial court, nothing in this paragraph shall\nprevent the issuance of a superseding order pursuant to paragraph a of\nthis subdivision.\n 2. To the extent practicable, an order pursuant to subdivision one of\nthis section:\n a. shall designate the most proximate location in which such term of\ncourt safely and practicably can be held, without limitation based on\nthe judicial department, judicial district, county, city, town, village\nor other geographical district for which such court was established;\n b. shall be made in conformance with state and local disaster\npreparedness plans governing the continued effective operation of the\ncivil and criminal justice systems pursuant to sections twenty-two and\ntwenty-three of the executive law; and\n c. for a trial court other than the court of claims, shall be made\nafter consultation with the chief executive officer of the county, city,\ntown or village for which such court was established and the chief\nexecutive officer of the corresponding county, city, town or village to\nwhich the term of such court temporarily would be relocated, or their\ndesignees.\n 3. An order pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall be\neffective for no more than thirty days and may be reauthorized for\nsuccessive periods of no more than thirty days each in like fashion as\nan original order. As soon as practicable, such order shall be filed\nwith the office of court administration and the office of the clerk of\neach county affected thereby, and shall be publicized by the best means\npracticable and for such duration as such order shall provide.\n 4. Every term of court subject to an order pursuant to subdivision one\nof this section shall, for the duration of such order, continue to\npreside for the original judicial department, judicial district, county,\ncity, town, village or other geographical district for which such court\nwas established, and every action and proceeding in such term shall be\nsubject to the same substantive and procedural law as would have applied\nhad such term not been temporarily relocated.\n 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of section thirty-nine of this\narticle, if an order pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall\ntemporarily relocate a term of court outside the county, city, town or\nvillage for which such court was established, then the costs of\ntemporarily providing facilities suitable and sufficient for the\ntransaction of business of such court outside such county, city, town or\nvillage shall be charges upon the office of court administration.\n