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.

Earlier this year, New York governor David Patterson enlarged the law on what is known as “net metering”, or the selling of homemade electricity back to the grid. New York was the first state that allowed this practice back in 1997, there were very few entities who were allowed to do so. Individuals who provide their own electricity through a number of means such as windmills and solar panels, had the capabilities to sell their excess power back to the grid, but it was illegal. Now through the state’s Renewable Energy Task Force, any customer in the state is now allowed to net meter.

The Network for New Energy Choices (NNEC) has issued its 2008 report cards grading state policies that allow farmers, homeowners, and small business owners who generate renewable energy to connect to the grid and receive credit for the electricity they produce, provisions known as net metering.  With net metering, when electric customers with wind or solar systems produce more energy than they use, their electric meters spin backward, providing them with a net gain.

“This year’s Freeing the Grid report has a number of bright spots that are particularly welcome given the declining economy, Americans’ desire for energy independence, and widespread concern about climate change,” said NNEC’s James Rose, a principal author of the report. “Chief among these is New York, singled out for praise in the report’s ‘Best Practices’ section for two new laws that vastly expand the ability of New Yorkers to net meter.”

Other states to take iniative on net metering laws along with New York include Arkansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont.

The debate over the New York City term limit law has been debated ad nauseam in the previous weeks, and is coming to a head as the election looms near. The public weighed in on the subject during a more than ten hour public hearing, with no resolution in sight. The public will not get to vote on the matter, that falls first to the City Council’s Governmental Operations Committee before it goes to the full city council, but made sure their voices were heard on the matter.

Protesters carrying a blanket-size sign reading "Bloomberg to Democracy: Drop Dead" briefly interrupted the meeting. Before the small group was ushered out, they yelled that voters had already decided the issue. Voters supported term limits twice, in 1993 and 1996.

Supporters like Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said the current limit reflects the feelings of a public burdened by scandal and crooked officials in the 1990s.

"At the time, New Yorkers had lived through so many recent corruption scandals that they had lost faith in the integrity of their elected officials," he said. "Back then, the rallying cry was, ‘Throw the bums out.’"

Opponents said the proposal is diverting focus from the slumped economy. They criticized supporters who said Bloomberg, who got his start on Wall Street, is the best candidate to guide the city through the fiscal crisis.

Roughly 150 members of the public spoke at the meeting, which included Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch. The bill to extend the term limits looks to go to vote on Thursday.