Senate bill · S916 (2025-26)

Raises the minimum fee for temporary interpreters

Latest action Dec 12, 2025

Raises the minimum fee for temporary interpreters; requires that town and village courts share in the compensation of such temporary interpreters.

Not chosen yet

Where it stands

Rejected by the executive.

Introduced
In committee
Up for a vote
Passed one chamber
Passed
Enacted

Vetoed

New York State Senate

Same as A3669, the matching bill in the Assembly.

Amends the Judiciary Law.

Committee

Judiciary · New York State Assembly

Also referred to Judiciary · New York State Senate.

Purpose, from the sponsor's memo

The per diem rate for temporary foreign language interpreters and tempo- rary interpreters for deaf or hard of hearing persons at town and village courts has been set at $25 for decades. This bill seeks to increase the compensation provided to such interpreters.

Filed with the bill. Read it on nysenate.gov (opens in a new tab)

Recorded votes

Vote: Floor vote
NY SenateMar 10, 2025Result: passed
(60) (1) (0) (2)
Vote: Committee vote · Judiciary
Senate JudiciaryFeb 11, 2025Result: passed
(19) (0) (0) (0)

Cosponsors

Chris Burdick, Jen Lunsford and 13 more on Agora

Democratic15

Show all 15 on Agora

See the full list on nysenate.gov

The sponsor's argument

Why the sponsor says this is needed

The New York State Constitution requires that municipalities support their justice courts. Whenever necessary, it is the court's responsibil- ity to provide in-person interpretation services. Failure to provide appropriate interpretation services may create an appealable issue as it impacts the defendant's right to due process. Due to an increase in cultural diversity, our town and village courts are seeing more and more demand for interpreter services for multiple languages as well as for interpreters for deaf and hard of hearing persons. Our county government needs to provide additional support to help defray the cost of these services. The New York State Unified Court System has raised the per diem rate for full day - $385 - and half day services - $220 - and has increased mile- age rates to meet this demand. However, since the 1990s, Town and Village Courts have received only $25 per day as reimbursement from their county government to help offset these costs. This bill would increase the per diem reimbursement to $110.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.

Full history

Dec 12, 2025
Vetoed
VETOED MEMO.110
NY Senate
Dec 8, 2025
Sent to the executive
DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR
NY Senate
Jun 9, 2025
Passed a chamber
PASSED ASSEMBLY
NY Assembly
Jun 9, 2025
Returned to Senate
RETURNED TO SENATE
NY Assembly
May 29, 2025
Ordered to Third Reading Rules CAL.309
ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.309
NY Assembly

Show full history (12 earlier events)

May 29, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED
NY Assembly
May 29, 2025
Substituted
SUBSTITUTED FOR A3669
NY Assembly
May 27, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO RULES
NY Assembly
May 13, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO WAYS AND MEANS
NY Assembly
Mar 10, 2025
Sent to the executive
DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
NY Senate
Mar 10, 2025
Passed a chamber
PASSED SENATE
NY Senate
Mar 10, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
NY Assembly
Feb 24, 2025
Advanced to Third Reading
ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
NY Senate
Feb 12, 2025
2ND Report CAL.
2ND REPORT CAL.
NY Senate
Feb 11, 2025
1ST Report CAL.343
1ST REPORT CAL.343
NY Senate
Jan 29, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
NY Assembly
Jan 8, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
NY Senate

About this record

Summary: The summary comes from NY Open Legislation, the New York State Senate's public record. For more, see How we handle summaries.
Cosponsors: The list shows the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.
Party colors: Parties are shown in the same neutral colors.
Source: From NY Open Legislation, the NY Senate and Assembly, and official rosters. This record was last updated Oct 21, 2026. About our data

Read the record

Read on NY Senate (opens in a new tab) The official record on nysenate.gov.

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