Reminder: Residential brush burning is prohibited in NY through May 14

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reminds New Yorkers that with warming temperatures and dry conditions, residential brush burning in towns with less than 20,000 residents is prohibited from March 16 through May 14. With the lack of snow cover over much of the state and unseasonably warm temperatures forecasted, experts believe conditions for wild fires will be heightened in the coming weeks.

DEC posts a fire danger rating forecast map on a daily basis on its website.

Open burning of debris is the largest single cause of spring wildfires in the state. When temperatures are warmer and the past fall’s debris and leaves dry out, wildfires can start and spread easily and be further fueled by winds and a lack of green vegetation.

New York enacted strict restrictions on open burning in 2009 to help prevent wildfires and reduce emissions. The regulations allow residential brush fires in towns during most of the year, but prohibit such burning in spring when most wildfires occur. In the five-year period since the ban was enacted, the average number of spring fires per year decreased by 33.4 percent, from 3,297 in 2009 to 1,649 to 2015.

The DEC also urges citizens to employ alternatives to burning brush, like chipping wood and downed branches for use as mulch and composting yard waste, leaves and plant clippings for use in gardens.

Campfires using charcoal or untreated wood are allowed, but people should never leave fires unattended and must completely extinguish them before leaving the area. Burning garbage or leaves is prohibited year-round.

Some towns, primarily in and around the Adirondack Park and Catskill Park, are designated “fire towns,” and open burning is prohibited year-round in these municipalities unless an individual or group has a written permit from DEC. To find out whether a municipality is designated a “fire town” or to obtain a permit, contact the appropriate DEC regional office. A list of regional offices is available here.

Violators of the open burning state regulation are subject to both criminal and civil enforcement actions, with a minimum fine of $500 for a first offense.

2016 Public Utility Law Institute | April 7, 2016

The New York State Bar Association will be sponsoring this full-day institute to stay up to date on current topics in public utility law.

Diane X. Burman, Department of Public Service Commissioner, is scheduled as keynote luncheon speaker.

The program will take place at the State Bar Center, One Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207. It is scheduled to run from 9:15am-4:05pm.

For more information, click here.

Be Alert to Tax Season Cyber Scams

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reported a surge of scams including phishing emails and vishing (voice phishing) calls.

Examples include:

• Fake emails purporting to be from the IRS or others in the tax industry, including software companies that seek information related to refunds, filing status, confirming personal information, and verifying personal identification numbers. Variation of the scams also come through text messages.
• Phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents and threatening you with police arrest, deportation, license revocation, and other penalties if you don't pay a bogus tax bill.

The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages, or social media channels to request personal or financial information. This includes requests for personal identification numbers, passwords, or similar access information for credit cards, banks, or other financial accounts. The IRS will never call to demand an immediate payment or threaten to involve law enforcement.

If you receive an unsolicited communication from the IRS — do not act on it. Suspected phishing emails should be forwarded directly to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov and then deleted. For instructions about how to report phishing calls and other IRS scams, visit the Reporting Phishing and Online Scams page on the IRS website.

Scams occur all year round, remain alert and as a reminder:

• DO NOT reply to an email with any personal information or passwords; call the organization directly to verify that the email is legitimate
• DO NOT click a link in an unsolicited email; type the organization’s web address into your web browser to verify legitimacy.

For more information click here.

New York releases top ten consumer frauds of 2015

New York State officials have released a list of the top ten consumer fraud complaints received by the Attorney General’s Office in 2015 to mark National Consumer Protection Week.

The following is the 2015 list of the top ten consumer complaints by category:

1. Internet (privacy issues; spyware; consumer frauds)
2. Automobile (buying, leasing, repair, service contracts, rentals)
3. Consumer-Related Services (security systems; restaurant/catering services; tech repairs)
4. Landlord/Tenant Disputes (Security deposit releases, tenant-harassment)
5. Credit(debt collection; credit card billing; debt settlement; payday loans; credit repair; credit reporting agencies; identity theft)
6. Utilities (Wireless and Residential Phones; Energy Servicers & Suppliers; Cable and Satellite)
7. Home Repair/Construction (home improvement services not delivered or done poorly)
8. Retail Sales (any sale of goods: food, clothing, rent-to-own)
9. Mortgage (mortgage modifications; mortgage and loan broker fraud (foreclosures)
10. Mail Order (purchases made online or from a catalog).

If you feel you have been the victim of a scam, you can file complaints by completing and submitting a Consumer Bureau Online Complaint Form or calling the New York State consumer frauds line at 1-800-771-7755.

For more on the top ten scams and a list of tips consumers should use to protect themselves and their families, click here.

Supreme Court Justice Nomination Process: Frequently Asked Questions

With the unfortunate passing of Hon. Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court Justice nomination process has again become a widely discussed subject.

The American Bar Association has posted FAQ's and other resources that shed some light on this process, including:

*Justice Scalia and his legacy
*Nomination Process Activity and Resources
*How long does it take to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court?
*7 Things To Know About Presidential Appointments To The Supreme Court

NYS Judicial Conduct Commission releases annual report

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has released its 2016 Annual Report, covering activities throughout the calendar year 2015.

The Commission is the disciplinary agency constitutionally designated to review complaints of judicial misconduct in New York State. The Commission's objective is to enforce the obligation of judges to observe high standards of conduct while safeguarding their right to decide cases independently.

The Report is available at here. An accompanying press release is available here.

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.