New York Law Blog

Governor Paterson is seen as New York’s top executive and some are calling his first legislative session "unproductive." The Democrat and Chronicle said Gov. Paterson needs to use the bully pulpit to get lawmakers moving and likened his first session as being a total bust if nothing is done soon.

If Paterson were as reform-minded as he contends, he’d insist that lawmakers earn their keep. He’d start, for example, by demanding action on a new report that argues for more government consolidation. Yet another blue-ribbon commission report last week called for a cap on property taxes. And as usual, Albany lawmakers are acting as if the report never happened.

The list of substantive issues that lawmakers ought to be tackling is lengthy. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer at least held their feet to the fire. New York doesn’t need a compliant, go-along-to-get-along governor. Too much has gone wrong for too long to wait.

The legislative session is set to end soon and many New York lawmakers are already considering this session to be over. The current sentiment is that most lawmakers want to get back to their districts to begin campaigning for re-election.

Domestic violence in New York, like other states, continues to be a problem both in the home and the legal system. However, the New York Senate believes they have a way to help curb domestic violence. They’ve outlined four measures they would like to have enacted into law. Those measures include:

1. Requiring a court, when issuing a temporary order of protection, to suspend a firearm license.
2. Letting courts issue orders of protection for a period beyond that now authorized.
3. Authorizing Family Court to issue orders of protection for witnesses called to testify.
4. Permitting the use of closed-circuit TV for the victims of alleged domestic violence to testify in court.

The second item is important, because New York is the only state that doesn’t permit unrelated people to obtain civil orders of protection.

Although many New York victims of domestic violence are eligible for services under the 1987 Domestic Violence Prevention and Services Act, they are excluded from obtaining Family Court orders of protection because they are not married or blood-related.

You can currently read the details of Bill S.06783 on the New York State Assembly’s website. The summary for Bill S.06783 reads as:

Provides that orders of protection may be entered against any member of the same family or household; expands the definition of “members of the same family or household”, for purposes of issuance of orders of protection and temporary orders of protection and the concurrent jurisdiction of family courts and criminal courts, to former spouse whether or not living together and unrelated persons who continually or at regular intervals reside in the same household or have done so in the past, and persons who are or have been in a dating or intimate relationship whether or not they have ever lived together.

You can also get involved with the bill through organizations like Stop Family Violence.