New York State Bar Association Responds To State Budget
5.28.2026
The New York State Bar Association President Kathleen Sweet welcomes several important justice-related provisions in the final state budget, including measures that advance immigrant protections, strengthen firearm safety laws and support a fairer legal system and judiciary. At the same time, NYSBA is disappointed that the budget includes limits on recovery for pain and suffering in certain serious motor vehicle injury cases.
The final budget includes meaningful immigration protections that help safeguard access to courts, schools, health care facilities and other essential public spaces, while limiting the use of state and local resources for civil immigration enforcement. NYSBA has long emphasized that due process and access to justice must be preserved for all New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status.
NYSBA also applauds the provisions in the final budget addressing ghost guns, 3-D printed firearms and related firearm technology. These measures are consistent with the association’s support for evidence-based firearm safety reforms and efforts to reduce the danger posed by untraceable weapons.
“These provisions reflect important progress,” Sweet said. “Protecting access to public institutions, preserving due process and strengthening public safety are all central to the rule of law. The final budget includes measures that move New York forward in these areas.”
The Interest on Lawyer Account Fund and the Indigent Legal Services Fund are not optional budget lines; they are essential to New York’s justice system.
“IOLA and ILSF exist because access to justice must not depend on wealth, geography or circumstance,” Sweet said. “When these programs are not funded at the level needed to meet demand, the consequences fall on people already facing some of the most difficult moments of their lives: families at risk of losing housing, children and parents navigating the family court system, immigrants seeking due process, and defendants who are constitutionally entitled to meaningful representation. This year’s budget is a step in the right direction, and NYSBA looks forward to working with the Governor and Legislature in future years to ensure the security of this funding.
The final budget also changes New York law in a way that limits recovery for pain and suffering in certain serious motor vehicle injury cases. Pain and suffering damages are not a windfall. They compensate for the human consequences of an injury that includes chronic pain, physical limitation, trauma, disfigurement, loss of independence and loss of enjoyment of life. These harms are often among the most profound consequences of a serious injury and when proven should be compensable.
The enacted budget also places a statutory ceiling on non-economic damages in certain cases. That means a court or jury may hear evidence and determine that a person’s pain and suffering is worth more, but the law will nevertheless limit recovery to a statutory amount. NYSBA has long opposed statutory caps on non-economic damages because they substitute an arbitrary legislative ceiling for the judgment of judges and juries and may deny full and fair compensation.
NYSBA will continue to work with the Governor, Legislature, courts and legal services providers to ensure that IOLA, ILSF, assigned counsel, attorneys for children, immigrant representation and broader civil legal services receive the sustained support necessary to meet the need. NYSBA also urges that future changes to New York’s civil justice system be considered through the regular legislative process, with the benefit of full public debate.
