Plugged In @ Hinman Straub – May 24, 2019

What’s Inside

  • Appellate Court Rules Farm Worker Exclusion from Collective Bargaining Unconstitutional 
  • Governor Declares State of Emergency for Eight Counties
  • Legislature Passes Bill to Allow Congress to Obtain the President’s State Tax Filings
  • JCOPE Executive Director Announces Departure
  • Board of Elections Enforcement Counsel Settles with NYSUT over Alleged Election Law Violations
  • Faso Will Not Run for Congress
  • Langworthy to Replace Cox as Republican State Party Chair
  • Updates, Reminders, and Links
  • Coming Up

Appellate Court Rules Exclusion from Collective Bargaining for Farm Workers Unconstitutional 

In a 4-1 ruling this week, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion from collective bargaining for farm laborers is unconstitutional, reversing a lower court which had granted a motion to dismiss. The Court determined that farmworkers are “employees” within the plain meaning of the term and that nothing in the constitutional provision’s language or history suggests an intent to give that term a narrower meaning. Additionally, the Court held “this expressly enumerated right—adopted as a result of the Constitutional Convention of 1938 and ratification by the electorate—is enshrined in the New York Bill of Rights, providing strong evidence that the right was regarded as fundamental”. The Court in turn concluded that the exclusion of farmworkers “is unconstitutional as a matter of law.”

The dissenting opinion suggested that the Court’s conclusion is “based upon an erroneous statutory construction of the NY Constitution and is tantamount to a finding that the delegates at the Constitutional Convention of 1938 intended to impliedly or explicitly repeal the farm laborer exclusion, which was enacted only a year prior.” 

While ordinarily the Appellate Court would send the case back to the Supreme Court, as the appeal was concerning a motion to dismiss which was granted, the Appellate Division ruled on the merits of the case arguing “we acknowledge the dissent’s position that, ordinarily, we would remit the matter for the Farm Bureau to answer the complaint. However, we agree with the State defendants that, under these unique circumstances, where we are presented with a purely legal constitutional question, remittal is unnecessary. There is no reason to remit the matter for Supreme Court to determine whether Labor Law § 701 (3) (a) meets strict scrutiny review when it is clear, from its face, that it would fail.”

The Attorney General’s office refused to defend the statute in court, opting to join the petitioner. The New York Farm Bureau intervened to defend the constitutionality of the statute.

The Governor said:

“This is a victory for some of the most vulnerable members of New York’s workforce. From the beginning, we chose not to defend against this lawsuit because farmworkers never should have been denied the same basic rights as other workers and we believed this to not only be morally wrong, but also unconstitutional. My administration has proudly fought for working men and women across the board, from raising the minimum wage to strengthening worker protections in nail salons and the home health care industry – and we will never tolerate the abuse or exploitation of workers anywhere, period. I commend the court’s decision to correct this undeniable injustice and reaffirm New York’s principles of fairness and equality for all.”

The Attorney General said:

“I applaud the court’s decision affirming the right for farmworkers to organize in the State of New York. This ruling asserts that farmworkers are no longer considered second-class workers in the eyes of the law. My office will always fight for the hardworking people in this state, and their fundamental rights to organize, access workplace protections, and receive fair wages for a fair day’s work.” 

David Fisher, President of the New York Farm Bureau said:

“We are extremely disappointed in the majority’s decision and the breadth of its ruling. The Appellate Court was considering the trial court’s decision on a motion to dismiss, which, if denied would have permitted Farm Bureau to fully litigate this case in the trial court. Instead, the majority of the court decided to make a far-reaching determination by declaring the right to collectively bargain as a “fundamental right,” on par with the freedoms of speech and religion. We believe that the majority’s conclusion is unsupportable and disregards decades of precedent. The court’s dissenting opinion exposed the flaws in the majority’s ruling and identified that the decision eliminates Farm Bureau’s right to defend the constitutionality of the statute in trial court.  Speaking more broadly, if the legislature, and now the courts do not recognize the value of preserving a viable and economically sustainable food production system in the state, New York agriculture will continue to shrink under a mountain of mandates. Our rural economy and local job opportunities will suffer. And New Yorkers will find it harder to access New York grown food, instead relying on food brought in from out of state, or worse yet, out of the country to feed their families. New York Farm Bureau fully intends to appeal the court’s ill-conceived ruling.”

Governor Declares State of Emergency for Eight Counties

This week the Governor declared a state of emergency for the counties of Cayuga, Jefferson, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Oswego, St. Lawrence and Wayne due to high water levels and significant potential for flooding. The Governor has ordered state agencies to protect state property and assist local governments and individuals responding to or recovering from local flooding. The Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is implementing a 5 mile per hour boating speed limit for vessels operating within 1000 feet of the Lake Ontario Shoreline to reduce erosion damage. The Governor has activated the New York National Guard by deploying 200 guardsmen and placing another 200 on standby for possible deployment, allocated a sandbags, pumps and aquadam to the impacted region.

The Governor said:

“We are preparing now for the reoccurrence of the 2017 flooding situation, which as people remember was devastating and caused a lot of damage and a lot of hardship for thousands of New Yorkers. We’re talking about the entire shoreline of Lake Ontario, so it’s hundreds of miles of New York State property. The only course of action is to do everything we can to be prepared before the flooding actually happens – and that’s what we’re doing. I’m also declaring an emergency order for the affected communities that sets a maximum speed limit of 5 miles per hour 1,000 feet from shoreline because the last thing we need are boat wakes creating additional waves. The emergency order also gives us flexibility in dealing with local governments and private property so we can install aquadam and other equipment to protect the shoreline.”

Legislature Passes Bill to Allow Congress to Obtain the President’s State Tax Filings

This week the Legislature passed a bill designed to help congressional investigations by allowing the state Department of Taxation and Finance to release state tax filings to certain congressional committees upon request from the chairperson. The amended version of the bill narrows the original language to only applying to tax filings for the current or prior year and to only certain individuals that hold federal, state, or local elected office or executive branch staff that is subject to Senate confirmation. Reports this week suggest that congress may still not take advantage of this new law. The bills have not yet been sent to the Governor for approval, but, it is expected that he will sign them upon delivery.

Bill sponsor Assemblyman Buchwald said:

“This bill stands for the principle of transparency with regards to top officials tax returns, recognizing that shedding light on conflicts and potential conflicts of interest is an important public purpose. The New York State Legislature has stepped up to promote transparency while the Treasury Department has instead denied lawful requests for tax records from the House of Representatives.”

Senator Hoylman said:

“Today, New York is stepping up and providing Congress with another vehicle through which to obtain the president’s taxes, albeit his state taxes. But as the home state of the president and many of his companies I think there’s a lot of information Congress might be interested in.”

JCOPE Executive Director Announces Departure

It was reported this week that Seth Agata, executive director of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), would be leaving his position at JCOPE at the end of June. The announcement was made at the monthly JCOPE meeting by commission chairman Michael Rozen. Mr. Agata is said to be leaving for a position at a private sector law firm in New York City.

Chairman Michael Rozen announced at the meeting:

“After serving more than three years as executive director of JCOPE, and more than 20 years of public service, Seth Agata notified the Commissioners before the April meeting that he will be stepping down following the June meeting. He will be joining a law firm to, again, pursue the private practice of law. The chair has established a subcommittee of the commission to begin searching for a new executive director and a job posting for the position will be made.”

Board of Elections Enforcement Counsel Settles with NYSUT over Alleged Election Law Violations

It was reported this week that the New York State United Teachers union (NYSUT) has agreed to a $100,000 settlement with Risa Sugarman, chief enforcement counsel for the New York State Board of Elections. Sugarman’s complaint alleged that NYSUT violated election law by ignoring a law that took effect in 2016 that prohibits political action committees (PACs) – which are allowed to have contact directly with candidates or campaigns, but, are subject to contribution limits – from giving to an independent expenditure committee (IE) which has no spending or fund raising limits, but, is not allowed to have any contact with candidates or campaigns.

The 2016 law was designed to prevent PACs from skirting contribution limits by funneling money to IEs that are under the same operational control. Sugarman’s lawsuit alleged that New Yorkers for a Brighter Future (NYSUT’s PAC) illegally donated $700,000 to the Fund for Great Public Schools (a NYSUT controlled IE) in November 2016. The complaint argued that the same individuals had “actual and strategic control over the day-to-day affairs of both the political action committee and the independent expenditure committee”. NYSUT argued that it had created a firewall around both their PAC and IE and were therefore not in violation of the law. Sugarman’s complaint, however, alleged that the PAC and IE committee shared office space, phone numbers, email servers, bank accounts, funding sources and other operations. According to the terms of the settlement, NYSUT does not admit any wrongdoing. A NYSUT spokesman said that rather than proceed with an expensive and protracted legal fight the union decided to settle the case without any finding or admission that they violated the law.

A NYSUT spokesman said:

“Anti-union forces know that when our members stand together in solidarity we can’t be beaten at the ballot box or broken by outside pressure. Instead, they try to weaponize New York’s complicated and ever-changing election laws by filing baseless complaints after every election cycle. Even though we have strictly adhered to the law and the advice of our legal counsel during every election cycle in question, our opponents know their bogus complaints can result in time-consuming and costly investigations”

Faso Will Not Run for Congress

Former U.S. Representative for New York’s 19th congressional district, John Faso, announced this week that he would not be seeking a return to congress by challenging Rep. Antonio Delgado. Delgado defeated Faso in 2018. The 19th congressional district is considered to be a swing district.

Faso said:

“Family and professional obligations will make it impossible for me to wage another campaign, especially since such efforts would have to begin almost immediately. Serving in the House was a great privilege for which I will always be grateful to the people of the 19th Congressional District for giving me that opportunity.”

Langworthy to Replace Cox as Republican State Party Chair

It was reported this week that New York’s Republican Party Chairman has agreed to transition power of the party to Erie County Party Chair Nick Langworthy. The peaceful transition avoids what could have become a protracted fight for control. Cox has led the party for a decade and has committed to remain active at both the state and national level.

Updates, Reminders, and Links

City & State NY’s weekly Winners & Losers here.

City & State NY’s Queens District Attorney Endorsement Tracker here.

Record number traveling for Memorial Day Weekend.

Former Governor David Patterson engaged.

Coming Up

A Joint Legislative Hearing on government run, single payer health care will be held on May 28th.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary will hold a public hearing on legislation authorizing and regulating compensated gestational surrogacy agreements on May 29th.

The Senate Committees on Education and Budget and Revenues will hold a public hearing to examine alternative ways of financing public education on May 29th.

The Senate Committee on Elections will hold a public hearing on the creation of an automatic voter registration system in the State of New York on May 30th.

The Assembly Committee on Health will hold a public hearing on rural health care services on May 31st.

A Joint Legislative hearing on suicide and suicide prevention is scheduled for June 4th.

The Senate Committees on Consumer Protection and Internet and Technology will hold a public hearing to conduct discussion on online privacy and what role the State Legislature should play in overseeing it on May 30th.

The Senate Committees on Racing, Gaming, and Wagering and Domestic Animal Welfare will hold a public hearing to examine the health of racehorses while training and racing, and resources for aftercare on June 5th.