New York Law Blog

-New York governor David Patterson signed a new bill this month that puts more stringent rules on private attorneys who have been collecting public pensions. Roughly 29 neighborhoods in Long Island alone have attorneys that are also employees of the village, many of which get both a salary from the city as well as from their private law firm.

Although most public employees must file time sheets, work regular hours and meet other criteria to qualify as public employees, the comptroller’s office says elected and some appointed officials do not have to. As a result, hundreds of officials statewide are allowed to earn coveted pension credits without having to keep time sheets of the hours they actually worked in what essentially is an honor system.

-The mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, will sign the new term limit bill on Monday, November 2:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has scheduled a Monday bill-signing ceremony for the law that gives officeholders the option of a third consecutive four-year term.

The bill narrowly passed the City Council last week after just three weeks of debate. Bloomberg pushed the law through the council because he wants to run for a third term. His critics say term limits changes should not be up to the council but should be decided by the voters.

-After warning AIG about using federal bailout money as rewards for executives, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has cautioned nine other banks about using government bailout payments as bonus money for executives, as it is illegal under state law.

In a letter sent to Bank of America Corp, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp, and Wells Fargo & Co, he also asked their boards to explain what mechanisms they have put in place to protect taxpayer money.

"Specifically, corporate expenditures and payments, made in the absence of fair consideration of undercapitalized firms, may well violate NY Debtor and Creditor Law 274, which deems such payments illegal fraudulent conveyances," Cuomo’s letter said.

It was first revealed a few weeks ago that Long Island Rail Road retirees were collecting double disability claims, and now the New York Times is reporting that a group of “disability consultants and physicians” were assisting record numbers of LIRR workers to collect disability along with their pensions for early retirement. According to the TImes, the LIRR had “the nation’s hightest rate of disabled retirees even while it was earning awards for employee safety.” Now a state and federal investigation is looking into these allegations of fraud against the LIRR by employees.

One consultant, Marie T. Baran, ran the board’s Long Island office until she quit two years ago and began selling advice to rail workers on how to navigate the system of which she had been a part. Other disability advisers are prominent former union leaders, including one who once represented labor on the board of the L.I.R.R.’s parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Government investigators are particularly interested in learning why L.I.R.R. retirees tend to use the same physicians, while citing the same ailments in numbers far out of line with other railroads. Investigators have issued dozens of subpoenas to consultants, doctors and retirees, among others.

Disability consultants are charging roughly $1,000 for the use of their services. Several of these consultants, as well as a few doctors, have been subpoenaed by the state attorney general regarding the investigation into the fraud.

-Term limit law issues keep rising up again and again. Former presidential candidate and New York senator Hillary Clinton has weighed in on the potential vote to extend term limits from eight years to 12.

The former first lady told NY1, "It is disturbing that voters voted twice, so I think that the City Council and the mayor have to first go through the hearings they’re holding and try to figure out what they will do."

"They have the legal authority to make the change… but I really am going to watch from the sidelines now because this is a very intense, local debate and the people of New York City should be heard," she added.

-The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion piece by Jason L. Riley regarding the term limits and how he believes they shouldn’t be extended:

But the argument for extending the two-term limit for Mr. Bloomberg — a self-made billionaire who got his start on Wall Street — is that the city needs someone with his financial acumen to help weather the fallout from the banking crisis. The biggest problem with that argument is that Mr. Bloomberg hasn’t been very adept at managing the city’s finances, even though he’s had record revenues to work with.

There is something deeply undemocratic about legislatively overturning the will of the people without giving voters a say in the matter. And there’s something deeply disturbing about a local press corps that lets the political class get away with it.

-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced amendments to state law regarding recycling to offset operation expenses. The changes are to be implemented within the next 120 days.

New York State law requires all municipalities to separate recyclables from trash before collection and processing. This "source separation" is intended to decrease waste, save waste disposal costs and increase revenues from the sale of recycled materials, according to officials with Cuomo’s office.

-Members of congress are questioning the legality of the planned auction of several flight slots out of New York City’s three main airports. An investigation into the auction noted that the FAA does not have the authorization to sell the inbound and outbound flight plans.

"Your office has the statutory responsibility and duty to investigate potential unlawful behavior and report violations,” Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, and Representative James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a letter to Inspector General Calvin Scovel.

The letter may add to pressure on the FAA to scrap the first auctions, planned for Jan. 12. Airlines yesterday asked an appeals court to halt the sales.