Section 420.40. Deferral of a mandatory surcharge; financial hardship hearings

1.  Applicability. The procedure specified in this section governs the
  deferral of the obligation to pay all or part of a mandatory  surcharge,
  sex  offender  registration  fee or DNA databank fee imposed pursuant to
  subdivision one of section 60.35 of the penal law and financial hardship
  hearings relating to mandatory surcharges.
    2. On an appearance date set forth in a  summons  issued  pursuant  to
  subdivision  three  of  section 60.35 of the penal law, section eighteen
  hundred nine of the vehicle and traffic law  or  section  27.12  of  the
  parks,  recreation  and  historic preservation law, a person upon whom a
  mandatory surcharge, sex offender registration fee or DNA  databank  fee
  was  levied  shall have an opportunity to present on the record credible
  and verifiable information establishing that  the  mandatory  surcharge,
  sex offender registration fee or DNA databank fee should be deferred, in
  whole  or  in  part,  because,  due  to the indigence of such person the
  payment of said surcharge, sex offender registration fee or DNA databank
  fee would work an unreasonable hardship on the  person  or  his  or  her
  immediate family.
    3.  In  assessing such information the superior court shall be mindful
  of the mandatory nature of the surcharge, sex offender registration  fee
  and  DNA  databank  fee,  and  the important criminal justice and victim
  services sustained by such fees.
    4. Where a court determines that it  will  defer  part  or  all  of  a
  mandatory  surcharge,  sex offender registration fee or DNA databank fee
  imposed pursuant to subdivision one of section 60.35 of the penal law, a
  statement of such finding and of the facts upon which it is based  shall
  be made part of the record.
    5.  A  court  which  defers  a  person's obligation to pay a mandatory
  surcharge, sex offender registration fee or  DNA  databank  fee  imposed
  pursuant  to  subdivision one of section 60.35 of the penal law shall do
  so in a written order. Such order shall not excuse the person  from  the
  obligation  to  pay  the surcharge, sex offender registration fee or DNA
  databank fee. Rather, the court's order shall direct  the  filing  of  a
  certified copy of the order with the county clerk of the county in which
  the  court  is situate except where the court which issues such order is
  the supreme court in which case the order itself shall be filed  by  the
  clerk  of the court acting in his or her capacity as the county clerk of
  the county in which the court is situate. Such order shall be entered by
  the county clerk in the same manner as a judgment in a civil  action  in
  accordance  with  subdivision  (a)  of rule five thousand sixteen of the
  civil practice law and rules. The order shall  direct  that  any  unpaid
  balance of the mandatory surcharge, sex offender registration fee or DNA
  databank  fee  may  be collected in the same manner as a civil judgment.
  The entered order shall be  deemed  to  constitute  a  judgment-roll  as
  defined in section five thousand seventeen of the civil practice law and
  rules  and  immediately after entry of the order, the county clerk shall
  docket the entered order as a money judgment pursuant  to  section  five
  thousand eighteen of such law and rules.