An amended bill that limits New Yorkers to filing redistricting lawsuits in Manhattan and Albany, Westchester and Erie counties was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday, after the Assembly approved it earlier in the day, while the Senate had passed it on Monday.
Bill sponsors say S3292B/A435A is aimed at preventing forum shopping and to designate those courts as experts in redistricting matters.
But the controversial proposal drew a more-than hourlong debate on Monday in the Senate, with Republican opponents asserting the bill would harm New Yorkers who don’t live near the four designated counties.
New York elections attorneys continue to monitor the bill, which originally targeted Albany County for hearing redistricting cases throughout New York’s 62 counties.
Cozen O’Connor senior counsel Jerry Goldfeder, a prominent elections attorney, told the Law Journal in an interview that the bill makes sense.
“It’s an attempt to make certain that courts in the major population areas hear cases that relate to the entire state, as opposed to state supreme court justices in counties with very few people, that make it very difficult for people to attend,” Goldfeder said….