§ 98-B — Indigent legal services fund

§ 98-b. Indigent legal services fund. 1. There is hereby established\nin the joint custody of the comptroller and the commissioner of taxation\nand finance a special fund to be known as the indigent legal services\nfund.\n 2. Such fund shall consist of all moneys appropriated for the purpose\nof such fund, all other moneys required to be paid into or credited to\nsuch fund, and all moneys received by the fund or donated to it.\n (a) The purpose of such fund shall be to (i) assist counties and, in\nthe case of a county wholly contained within a city, such city, in\nproviding legal representation for persons who are financially unable to\nafford counsel pursuant to article eighteen-B of the county law; (ii)\nassist the state, in improving the quality of public defense services\nand funding representation provided by assigned counsel paid in\naccordance with section thirty-five of the judiciary law; and (iii)\nprovide support for the operations, duties, responsibilities and\nexpenses of the office of indigent legal services and the indigent legal\nservices board established, respectively, pursuant to sections eight\nhundred thirty-two and eight hundred thirty-three of the executive law.\n (b) State funds received by a county or city from such fund shall be\nused to supplement and not supplant any local funds which such county or\ncity would otherwise have had to expend for the provision of counsel and\nexpert, investigative and other services pursuant to article eighteen-B\nof the county law. All such state funds received by a county or city\nshall be used to improve the quality of services provided pursuant to\narticle eighteen-B of the county law. Nothing in this paragraph shall\npreclude a county from decreasing local funds as long as the county\ndemonstrates to the office of indigent legal services established by\nsection eight hundred thirty-two of the executive law that the quality\nof services has been maintained or enhanced notwithstanding the use of\nstate funds.\n (c) As used in this section, "local funds" shall mean all funds\nappropriated or allocated by a county or, in the case of a county wholly\ncontained within a city, such city, for services and expenses in\naccordance with article eighteen-B of the county law, other than funds\nreceived from: (i) the federal government or the state; or (ii) a\nprivate source, where such city or county does not have authority or\ncontrol over the payment of such funds by such private source.\n 3. Amounts distributed from such fund shall be limited to amounts\nappropriated therefor and shall be distributed as follows:\n (a) The office of court administration may expend a portion of the\nfunds available in such fund to provide assigned counsel paid in\naccordance with section thirty-five of the judiciary law, up to an\nannual sum of twenty-five million dollars.\n (b) An annual amount of forty million dollars shall be made available\nto the city of New York from such fund for the provision of services\npursuant to article eighteen-B of the county law; provided that the city\nof New York shall continue to provide at minimum the aggregate amount of\nfunding for public defense services including, but not limited to, the\namount of funding for contractors of public defense services and\nindividual defense attorneys, that it provided, pursuant to article\neighteen-B of the county law during its two thousand nine--two thousand\nten fiscal year.\n (c) Within the first fifteen days of March two thousand eleven, each\ncounty other than a county wholly contained within the city of New York,\nshall receive ninety percent of the amount paid to such county in March\ntwo thousand ten. Within the first fifteen days of March two thousand\ntwelve, each county other than a county wholly contained within the city\nof New York shall receive seventy-five percent of the amount paid to\nsuch county in March two thousand ten. Within the first fifteen days of\nMarch two thousand thirteen, each county other than a county wholly\ncontained within the city of New York shall receive fifty percent of the\namount paid to such county in March two thousand ten. Within the first\nfifteen days of March two thousand fourteen, each county other than a\ncounty wholly contained within the city of New York shall receive\ntwenty-five percent of the amount paid to such county in March two\nthousand ten. For all state fiscal years following the two thousand\nthirteen--two thousand fourteen fiscal year, there shall be no required\nannual payments pursuant to this paragraph. Notwithstanding the\nprovisions of this paragraph, for each of the four required payments\nmade to counties within the first fifteen days of March two thousand\neleven, two thousand twelve, two thousand thirteen and two thousand\nfourteen, Hamilton and Orleans counties shall receive such percentage\npayments based on the amounts that each county would have received in\nMarch two thousand ten had it satisfied the maintenance of effort\nrequirement set forth in paragraph (c) of subdivision four of this\nsection in effect on such date.\n (d) Remaining amounts within such fund, after accounting for annual\npayments required in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this subdivision and\nsubparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this section\nshall be distributed in accordance with sections eight hundred\nthirty-two and eight hundred thirty-three of the executive law.\n