New York State to cover county and municipal e-waste recycling costs

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced plans to reimburse counties for 50% of e-waste recycling costs up to $2 million per municipality:

Lawmakers heard that the state's 2010 e-waste law was fundamentally flawed because it vastly underestimated the amount of obsolete cathode ray tubes that people

would discard as they bought new flat screens. The problem, which first became apparent several years ago, got worse after January 2015 when state law banned the disposal of electronic waste in municipal landfills.

The law requires electronics manufacturers to support e-waste recycling only to specific annual weight-based goals determined by each manufacturer's current share of market sales. However, the heavy CRT tubes, which contain hazardous leaded glass, are much heavier than modern equipment and push weight totals of reclaimed material well above the recycling goals. By law the manufacturers are not responsible to pay for the excess.

CRTs have no recycling value and cost money to dispose of, so the financial burden is being shifted to local recycling programs. The problem could continue for years because there are still a lot of CRT tubes yet to be turned in....

The state is poised to partially fund local recycling programs to lessen the sting, said Eugene Leff, deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Lawyer's Manual on Domestic Violence

The New York State Judicial Committee on Women in the Courts has announced publication of the newly revised Lawyers Manual on Domestic Violence.

This 6th Edition marks the 20th anniversary of the publication.

The last edition was published in 2006.

The volume is available online.

Ovid Town officials look at emergency signage procedures

© Copyright 2016, Ithaca Times:

The village of Ovid may be getting on the house numbers bandwagon a little, but not too late. Dr. David Dresser came to the Feb. 10 Ovid town board meeting with a plan to help the village get house number signs at reduced cost.

The town of Ovid has just finished wrapping up its house numbers program, providing green number signs that will be visible at night to emergency responders. Dresser said that in talks with Ovid village mayor David Terry, he had come up with a plan to obtain similar signs for village residents. The village would be posting a notice to residents in local newspapers, to the effect that they can get number signs for $20.25 by leaving their name, number, street address, and phone number at the village office. Village personnel will be erecting the signs.

Al Deming put in that he had talked with Mayor Terry, too, and “he doesn't think there's going to be a huge influx” of people wanting signs.

Ovid town attorney Steven Getman said he had some concerns about the process of paying for the signs, since the plan is for the town to order them (to take advantage of the bulk discount attached to buying all those town signs) and the village to pay the town back. “What if someone doesn't pay? It's a financial obligation created for the town by the village,” said Getman.

After some back and forth Getman said he would be satisfied by a Memorandum of Understanding from the village that detailed the terms of the deal. Deming said there should be a time limit on the whole process; at this time, the plan is to ask residents to get their orders in by March 15. Regarding the town of Ovid signs, a lingering issue is that some residents removed the signs posted for their properties. Borst said he had communicated with the new sheriff, who is extremely busy and responded via voice mail; “He believed the enforcement should be done by our code enforcement officer. We don't have a code enforcement officer... It didn't sound like the Sheriff's real interested in this.”

Officer Leon Anderson, Interlaken Police Chief and School Resource Officer for South Seneca, had offered to do it, but attorney Getman said it would be outside his jurisdiction. Getman suggested that supervisor Prouty schedule a meeting with the sheriff and find out once and for all “what the sheriff will or won't do.”

John Hubbard returned to a pet peeve, which is the cost of the signs for owners of trailer parks. Although the signs for the trailer numbers are smaller and cheaper, the cost is borne by the property owner- the owner of the park. Hubbard's opinion is that the cost, around $1000, for a certain trailer park owner, is “unfair.”

Getman reminded him that charging everyone else in town for house number signs while giving them to the trailer park owner for free isn't legal: “The law says, they've got to pay for them.” The town can't make a gift of services or goods to an individual, said Getman.

New York State considers bill to overhaul indigent criminal defense system

Syracuse.com:

New York state requires counties to provide lawyers to represent poor people charged with crimes, but when it comes to paying for those attorneys, the state coughs up only about a quarter of the costs.

That's an unfunded mandate on local governments that State Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, and Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, D-Albany, want to eliminate. They introduced bills last month that would require New York State to begin paying a greater percentage of the bill each year until 2019, when the state would become responsible for 100 percent of the cost of lawyers for indigent defendants.

If passed, the bill would also set statewide standards on the quality of legal services provided to poor people.

Report: Thousands of sex offenders to disappear from New York registry

Fox News:

The names of thousands of New York State sex offenders are due to come off a public registry, prompting demands for a change in the law.

State law requiring Level 1 offenders to report their whereabouts to the registry for a 20-year period was up Jan. 1….

The Level 1 designation can include child molestation, rape in the first degree and sodomy, according to the station.

Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders are required to register for life.

More information on the New York State registry can be found here.

Ovid moves forward with comprehensive plan

The Ovid Town Board is beginning a renewal of the Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Ovid and the public's help is requested.

The town is now accepting letters of interest with qualifications from town residents interested in being appointed to two positions on the planning board.

Letters should be sent to Town Clerk James Vangalio at PO Box 452, Ovid NY 14521 and must be received before February 10, 2016.

For information about these positions call Town Supervisor Walt Prouty at 607-279-7170, Planning Board Chair Al Deming at 607-869-3566, or Town Clerk James Vangalio at 607-869-3907.

Schuyler County announces retirement planning event.

Schuyler County’s Office for the Aging will hold a retirement planning event on March 18 at the Human Services Complex in Montour Falls.

The event is preceded at 4:00 pm with a Medicare 101 Class in Room 115. From 5:00 to 7:00 pm, the county will have informational tables that deal with Office for the Aging services, Medicare, Long Term Care insurance, financial planning, volunteering and more.

For more details, click here.

New York Appellate Court now live broadcasting oral arguments.

The Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department is now live broadcasting oral arguments on its website.

Oral arguments are typically scheduled for two weeks every month. There is usually one session of oral arguments each day, beginning at either 9:30 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. Daily session calendars are available on the court's monthly term calendar.

The Appellate Division, Third Department, which is located in Albany, is one of four Appellate Division Departments. Each Department exercises appellate jurisdiction in a separate geographic region.

The Appellate Division is New York State's intermediate level appellate court. It hears appeals from trial courts and has power to review both law and facts in civil and criminal cases. Appeals from the Appellate Division are taken to the Court of Appeals, the State's highest court. The bulk of all appellate review in New York State is provided by the Appellate Division.

Analysts: Obama's gun control options each have legal pitfalls

From Reuters:

The Washington Post and Politico reported late last week that one of Obama’s main proposals would require some unlicensed gun dealers to get licenses and conduct background checks on potential buyers. Current law exempts smaller dealers who often operate at gun shows and sell online.

Obama... could act through an executive order, which would be immediate and carry the force of law. It would also almost certainly prompt lawsuits ... claiming the president lacks the authority to change the legal definition of who must obtain a dealer’s license....

Obama could take the less risky path on guns by directing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to redefine its guidance on who is considered a dealer under federal gun law. This would be advisory and lack the force of law, which would mean that prosecutors could not rely on it when pursuing small gun dealers....

Obama could choose an even more cautious route and direct the ATF to begin the formal administrative rulemaking process to change its regulations for who is considered a firearms dealer under the existing Gun Control Act. Agency action that includes the chance for public comment would create an enforceable rule that would likely pass legal muster, but that process probably would not conclude before Obama leaves office in January 2017....

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms.

Regardless of what steps Obama might take to increase the number of dealers who must conduct background checks, legal experts said that he cannot accomplish his desired gun control agenda - like boosting oversight of gun show sales - through executive action alone.

New laws for the New Year

January 1, 2016 will see many new laws take effect nationwide.

In New York State, those laws include the following:

• A minimum wage hike
• A tax Cut for businesses
• New breastfeeding rights
• Expansion of Telehealth services
• Increased veterans property tax exemptions
• Expedited access to Child Protective Services records to aid in locating missing children
• A “Women's Equality Agenda”

If you believe one or more of these laws will affect you, do not hesitate to contact an attorney to advise you of your rights and responsibilities under these new laws.

Stay safe, stay informed and have a Happy New Year.