State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats), Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C-Corning), and Assemblyman Chris Friend (R,C-Big Flats) on (January 12) joined regional law enforcement representatives and other local leaders to call on Governor Kathy Hochul and the Democrat leaders of the State Legislature to approve legislation and crack down on the proliferation of businesses, commonly known as “sticker stores,” illegally dispensing and selling marijuana throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and statewide.
O’Mara, Palmesano, and Friend currently sponsor legislation (S9365/A9815, Note: This legislation is being reintroduced and will receive new bill numbers for the 2023 legislative session) that, if enacted, would strengthen existing law, outlaw sticker stores, and establish criminal and civil penalties for violators. Any civil penalties collected by the state would be remitted to the county of the violating establishment.They called on Hochul and the Democrat leaders of the Senate and Assembly to immediately enact the legislation.
In a joint statement, O’Mara, Palmesano, and Friend said, “New York State needs to stop the proliferation of illegal marijuana ‘sticker stores’ throughout the region we represent and statewide. These illegal operations diminish the quality of life and risk the safety of the communities and neighborhoods where they operate. New York State is establishing a legal and appropriately regulated network of adult-use recreational marijuana dispensaries, with all the necessary safeguards. While we opposed the legalization of marijuana from the outset, if it’s going to go forward, it needs to take place under a legally established system with the appropriate oversight. We need to make it clear that these illegal sticker stores cannot operate and that there are criminal and civil consequences for any owners who continue to do so.”
Calling on Hochul to step up state efforts to shut down the illegal operations, including the enactment of the legislation they sponsor, the area state legislators were joined in Watkins Glen today by the following regional law enforcement representatives and local leaders: Schuyler County Sheriff Kevin Rumsey; Schuyler County Administrator Fonda Chronis; Schuyler County District Attorney Joe Fazzary; Schuyler County Attorney Steven Getman; Schuyler County Legislator Phil Barnes; Chemung County Sheriff William Schrom; Chemung County Executive Assistant District Attorney Wayne Witherwax; Chemung County Legislator Bill McCarthy; Steuben County Sheriff James Allard; Steuben County Legislator Hilda Lando; Tioga County Sheriff Gary Howard; Tioga County District Attorney Kirk Martin; Penn Yan Police Chief Thomas Dunham; and Yates County District Attorney Todd Casella.
Monday, January 30, 2023
Local leaders call on Gov. Hochul to crack down on ‘sticker stores’
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Opioid distributor Teva to pay up to $116,000 in settlement with Schuyler County
According to the resolution, distributor Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and its subsidiaries (Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., the Actavis Generic Entities, and Anda, Inc.), agreed to the settlement with the county in exchange for being released from a pending lawsuit filed by the county, as well as later claims brought by the New York State Attorney General’s office.
The agreement calls for Teva to pay the county over seventeen annual installments, with payments expected to begin later this year, Getman said.
According to Getman, the settlement funds can be used for a variety of purposes.
“Potential uses include supporting police and first responders, treating opioid addiction, funding social services and similar anti-drug efforts,” Getman explained.
The agreement also commits Teva to critical injunctive relief, Getman noted, including:
• A ban on high-dose opioids and prescription savings programs;
• Prohibitions on marketing opioids and funding third parties that promote opioids;
• Restrictions on political lobbying; and
• Disclosure of Teva opioid product clinical data.
The Teva agreement is the latest opioid settlement Schuyler County has been a part of in the past five years. In 2021, the county legislature authorized Getman to accept up to $121,000 from Johnson & Johnson and up to $546,000 from distributors McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation to treat, reduce and prevent opioid use through a court settlement with the opioid maker. A similar agreement, for $41,000, was obtained from defendant Actavis, Inc. in early 2022. Like the Teva agreement, payments to the county are scheduled to be made over time.
The settlements stem from a 2018 lawsuit the county filed against approximately thirty defendants, including some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry. The lawsuit alleged the defendants had long known that opioids were addictive and subject to abuse, particularly when used long-term for chronic non-cancer pain, and should not be used except as a last-resort. However, the lawsuit stated, the defendants spent hundreds of millions of dollars disseminating scientific materials and advertising that misrepresented the risks of opioids’ long-term use.
Schuyler County was one of many local governments that filed lawsuits against the manufacturers and distributors of opioid pain killers. At least 14 counties across New York sued the pharmaceutical companies for fraudulent marketing practices.
After the counties sued, in March 2019, the New York State Attorney General’s office brought its own lawsuit on behalf of the state. In November, 2022, Attorney General Letitia James announced a tentative deal with Teva that will deliver up to $523 million to New York state to combat the opioid epidemic.
In October 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency due to the consequences of the opioid crisis facing the nation. That year, more than 70,000 individuals nationally and nearly 4,000 New Yorkers lost their lives to a drug overdose.
Schuyler County’s lawsuit against a number of other defendants remains pending, Getman said, with the possibility of more settlements and additional funding to the county still to come.
Said Getman: “One cannot put a price on lives lost and families torn apart, but with the more than $824,000 expected to be delivered to Schuyler County from these lawsuits, we can provide the County with financial assistance to continue this battle and hold these companies responsible for their role in the opioid epidemic.”
County Administrator Fonda Chronis agreed: "County officials have expended significant resources to help its residents battle opioid addiction and prevent further deaths. By voting to go forward with this settlement, the County Legislature hopes to lessen the burden to taxpayers for expenses related to the opioid crisis."
Schuyler County’s latest salvo in the fight against opioid companies comes shortly after the New York State Department of Health released its Quarterly Opioid Report for January 2023, showing a 14% increase in 2021 overdose deaths involving opioids compared to 2020. That report, comparing state totals for 2021 to 2020 data, noted a 14% increase in overdose deaths involving opioids, with 4,766 deaths statewide in 2021. The report notes that fentanyl has contributed to an increase in opioid overdose deaths in recent years, is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin, and is now involved in the majority of overdose deaths in New York State.
In November, Teva issued a statement describing the settlement as "enabling us to put these cases behind us and continue to focus on the patients we serve every day.”
Monday, January 23, 2023
New York enacts ‘right to repair’ bill for electronic devices
Finding ways to fix smartphones and other electronic devices will soon be a little easier for New Yorkers (under) a bill that will eventually require manufacturers to make diagnostic manuals, tools and other parts necessary for repairs available to the public and independent service shops.However, at least one “right to repair” advocate has declared that changes made to the bill by Gov. Kathy Hochul have rendered the law “functionally toothless”:The measure, considered the first so-called “right to repair” law in the country, will only apply to products made or sold after July 1, 2023.The new law will cover digital electronic products, such as phones, tablets and IT equipment, and require companies provide access to the parts, tools and information needed to repair equipment.
Environmental advocates celebrated the legislative victory and said the new law will help reduce the threat from toxic chemicals found in many of the devices when they are prematurely discarded.
Right to Repair advocate Louis Rossmann has made a bitter YouTube video expressly saying that Governor Hochul's statement is "the exact opposite of what's going to happen with this bill because of how it was amended."For a complete copy of the new law, click here.Central to Rossmann's argument is that the purpose of Right to Repair is to allow consumers to fix or replace individual components that have broken. As passed, he argues that the bill effectively allows companies free reign to declare a single component as unrepairable, and instead offer a costly assembly of several related parts.
"[The] manufacturer will tell you that when you have a bad $28 chip on your motherboard that what you need to do is replace the $745 Motherboard," he says.
Monday, January 16, 2023
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
"Each year on Martin Luther King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the Commandments he believed in and sought to live every day: Thou shall love thy God with all thy heart, and thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. And I just have to believe that all of us -- if all of us, young and old, Republicans and Democrats, do all we can to live up to those Commandments, then we will see the day when Dr. King's dream comes true, and in his words, "All of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning. . . land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
(President Reagan, Coretta Scott King, Bob Dole and others at the signing ceremony for HR 3706 making the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a national holiday. 11/2/1983)
Monday, January 9, 2023
Civil Rights and Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: 2023 Disability Law Series
The five two-hour forums will explore:
• January 12, 1 p.m.: Overview of Civil Rights and People with Developmental Disabilities
• February 9, 1 p.m.: Consent in Health Care Decisions
• March 9, 1 p.m.: Consent of Adults in Adoption and Marriage Decisions
• March 30, 1 p.m.: Challenges in Guardianship for People with Developmental Disabilities and Strategies to Address Them
• April 13, 1 p.m.: Protecting the Civil Rights of People with Developmental Disabilities: Potential Statutory Reforms
For more information, including registration, click here.
Monday, January 2, 2023
Second Amendment Legal Update, January 2023
