Kathryn Grant Madigan's Blog

Let me start by wishing you all a happy, healthy and peaceful new year. As we begin 2008, I wanted to report to you that we have considered all your email replies to our outreach about what you think our legislative priorities should be this year. Our Legislative Steering Committee, working cooperatively with our officers, presented to the Executive Committee for their approval, the Association’s final list of those key legislative initiatives. We have now begun the process of communicating our 2008 legislative priorities to our policymakers, urging the Senate, Assembly and Governor to enact our proposals this year as they convene in Albany to conduct the people’s business.

While we will continue to advocate for the hundreds of legislative proposals promoted by our Sections, Committees and leadership each year, we have found that our lobbying activities are far more effective when we highlight the top priorities. Among other things, we are calling for an increase of judicial salaries, reforming the court system and the judicial selection process, providing greater access to justice for the poor, instituting Medicaid reforms, and ensuring equal rights for same-sex couples. A complete listing and explanation of our Legislative Priorities are provided below.

New York State Bar Association 2008 Legislative Priorities

Judicial Salary Reforms for Judges of the State of New York
Salaries for New York State Judges were last adjusted in 1999. Since that time salaries have fallen far behind federal judges, judges in other states and even behind the salaries of first-year associates in many large law firms. The State Bar Association has repeatedly urged the Legislature to give judges a long-overdue raise, so that we can continue to attract the most qualified individuals to serve on the bench.

Court Reform
Reforming New York’s costly, overly complex court system and implementing a commission-based process for selecting judges are pillars of reform long supported by NYSBA. These reforms are essential in promoting public trust and confidence in the court system. The commission-based procedure would remove the party-based political process, which enables unelected political leaders to determine the candidates, from the process of selecting judges.

Access to the Justice System
New York State only provides funding to cover a fraction of the legal needs of indigent and underprivileged people in this state and even with the significant pro bono services provided annually by lawyers across the state, a great need still exists. NYSBA recommends the following reforms to the justice system.

· Civil Justice for low-income consumers. Notwithstanding the clear societal benefits of providing counsel to the poor, there is no right to counsel in civil legal proceedings involving such critical needs as housing and public assistance benefits. Adequate funding at both the state and federal levels of government is necessary to ensure broad access to the justice system for those people who are at the lowest economic strata of our society. Moreover, expanding the right to counsel to the poor in civil legal matters involving shelter, sustenance, safety, health and child custody is clearly needed.

· Independent Indigent Defense Commission. As published reports have noted, New York’s public defense system is in disrepair. The Association has strongly supported efforts such as the commission appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye on the Future of Indigent Defense Services, to better implement the constitutional right to counsel in criminal defense proceedings, as proclaimed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright. The Association supports the findings of the Kaye Commission calling for the establishment of an Independent Indigent Defense Commission with broad powers to adopt standards, evaluate existing programs and service providers, and generally supervise the operation of New York’s public defense system.

Equal Legal Rights for Same-Sex Couples
Under current state law, there are significant differences in the legal treatment of marital relationships compared to the relationship of committed same-sex couples in a wide range of matters, including property rights, financial support, responsibilities to children, health care, social security, long-term care, domestic violence, access to the court system and more. The Association has called for legislation that would provide same-sex couples with the ability to right this wrong and obtain the comprehensive set of rights and responsibilities now available to opposite-sex couples. Granting such rights could be accomplished by enacting a domestic partnership registry or a civil union statute, or by amending the statutory definition of marriage.

The Compact for Long-Term Care
The current “all-or-nothing” approach that requires individuals to be impoverished before qualifying for Medicaid is ineffective and excludes many people from the healthcare they need. The Association supports the Compact for Long-Term Care, which would provide a fair and equitable way to finance long-term care for elderly and disabled persons in New York State. It would promote personal responsibility by requiring the elderly and chronically disabled to pay a fair share of their long-term care costs but would also provide a financial subsidy for additional long-term care services, without requiring that the individual be impoverished to qualify. This initiative is designed to increase use of private funds for long-term care, while maintaining the Medicaid safety net.

Support for the Legal Profession
It is a longstanding tradition and policy of the Association to support proposals that promote and benefit New York’s legal profession. It is vitally important to support legislative initiatives that would benefit the profession, assist those in the profession who work tirelessly to protect citizens’ rights, and facilitate the lawyer’s role in enhancing our system of justice. It is equally important to oppose legislation that would have a detrimental effect on these principles.

The Association will focus efforts with the Legislature on accomplishing these reforms as many of these issues directly impact lawyers and those we represent. As always, your opinions matter to me, so feel free to comment about our priorities or any other issue that is important to you.

For several years membership at the Association has been relatively flat, hovering in the range of 72,000 members. While many organizations would take great delight in these figures we knew we could do better. We knew that there are many untapped potential members and our growth should at the very least reflect the increase in the growth of lawyers in New York State.

In 2006 and 2007 we began discussions on plans for a 3-year Membership Challenge Campaign which would transform our stable membership into growth mode. We assembled a team of dedicated people, including our Membership Committee Chair Claire Gutekunst, and Membership Committee member Steve Younger, who have committed to take the lead by doing whatever it takes to promote membership at every level of our Association. Our Membership Committee, Sections, our leadership and staff have reinforced this message throughout the year and President Elect Bernice Leber has been an invaluable partner in developing our ambitious plans.

Today, I can report that our early efforts are paying off. As of January 1, 2008, we stand at 74,150 members and rising! That’s a growth rate of 2.9 percent since May. Great work by everyone!

The stage is now set to formally kick-off our 2010 Membership Challenge to increase NYSBA membership by 5 percent, increase Section membership by 10 percent and increase law student membership by 10 percent each year between now and 2010. I believe we can meet and even exceed these goals by our target date of December 31, 2010.

This challenge demands hard work and involves renewed efforts to share our good news, spreading the word about the privileges and the benefits of NYSBA membership. To achieve our goals we need the help of every member, every Committee, every Section and every NYSBA staff person to "think membership". In fact, I urge each member and all of our staff to reach out to one non-member attorney, express the tremendous value and relevance of NYSBA membership and encourage them to join.

We are the voice of the profession here in New York and the advocate of the people. In numbers there is strength, credibility and influence.

While we are off to a great start, we have much work to do over the next three years. I urge you to take up this challenge, contact your colleagues and bring them home to the New York State Bar Association. As always, I am interested in your thoughts. And if you have any suggestions about how we can increase our membership, I hope you will share them by posting your response on this blog.