N.Y. State Senate Passes Bill on Workplace Bullying

From the Senate press release:

New York State Senator Thomas P. Morahan, Chairman of the Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities today secured Senate passage of his landmark legislation (S.1823-B) which establishes a civil cause of action for employees who are subjected to an abusive work environment.

Mistreatment of employees in the workplace is a serious issue, but too often, workers have no recourse when they are subject to an abusive work environment,” said Senate Republican Leader Dean G. Skelos. “Senator Morahan’s legislation will help employees who have been harmed, physically, mentally or financially, and will encourage employers to do more to prevent and respond to this problem.

The text of S.1823-B is available here.

CALI: New York Primary Legal Research

CALI, the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction, produces new lessons daily. One that caught my attention is intended to practice and review NY primary legal research. It takes about an hour to complete. A user is given a hypothetical in the beginning of the lesson. After that, he gets to explore secondary sources, statutes, cases, and regulations (both online and in print) to try to answer the questions posed in the hypothetical.

This lesson is intended to acquaint students with basic information regarding sources of primary law in New York state: case law, statutes and regulations. It can be used to supplement instruction in introductory Research and Writing courses or as a freestanding introduction to doing New York legal research.

There are more lessons to chose from; they organized by topic, author, or by lessons recommended to 1Ls and to 2 and 3 Ls. See for yourself.

National Parks Offering Free Admission This Weekend

Are you looking for something to do this weekend? Have some fun before the school starts.! For those who are interested and enjoy visiting national parks, more than hundred of national parks will waive their admission fee this weekend, August 15-16, 2009. Take advantage of this last summer special and visit a national park for free.

The NPS (National Park Service) will allow visitors free entry during three weekends this summer to encourage Americans to visit national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Rocky Mountain National Park. The fee waivers (on June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16, 2009) will apply to more than 100 national parks across the country that usually charge entrance fees. Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees and transportation entrance fees.

We posted about this earlier this year; read here the full post and see the list of 7 participating national parks in New York state. And don't forget you can subscribe to all USA.gov updates via email or via RSS feed.

Looking For Something To Do This Weekend? Try National Parks!

Via USA.gov, Which national parks will waive their fee this weekend?, some national parks will waive their fee this weekend. As stated on the official government website,

The NPS (National Park Service) will allow visitors free entry during three weekends this summer to encourage Americans to visit national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Rocky Mountain National Park. The fee waivers — on June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16, 2009 — will apply to more than 100 national parks across the country that usually charge entrance fees. Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included unless stated otherwise.

For those in New York state, the following 7 national parks participate in this fee waiver this coming weekend:
Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site
Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
Saratoga National Historical Park
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site

Have some fun this weekend! And don't forget you can subscribe to all USA.gov updates via email or via RSS feed.

Open Book New York

This website, from the New York State Comptroller, is an

effort to promote more openness in government and give taxpayers better access to the financial workings of government.

Taxpayers can track federal stimulus spending, state agency and local government spending, and state contracts. Click the picture below to see a chart showing how the stimulus money is being spent in New York.

NY Model Code for Administrative Law Judges

New York Law Journal has this article on the new proposed model code for administrative law judges. It was developed by the New York State Bar Association, and submitted to the Legislature and state agencies for adoption. The model code consists of five canons

designed to serve as ethical signposts for some 2,000 administrative law judges employed directly by state agencies or working for them on a contract basis in the same way that New York's Code of Judicial Conduct guides the conduct of judges or the Rules of Professional Conduct defines ethical professional behavior by attorneys.

The NYSBA Subcommittee on the Administrative Law Judiciary developed the proposed model code over the past two years.

Some Relief for NYC Public Defenders

The recent budget bill passed by the New York State legislature has a provision that caps the caseload for public defenders in New York City. The New York Times writes that

Under the law, New York State’s chief administrative judge would be required to establish new caseload standards for public defenders by April 1, 2010. The judiciary would then have four years to phase in the limits and ensure proper funding. Despite the state’s grim economic condition, the judiciary’s budget for the current fiscal year remained stable at $2.57 billion.

Public defenders in large cities hope that this law serves as a model for the rest of the country. Read the rest of the story here.

New Attorney Ethics Standards for N.Y.

The new code of conduct for N.Y. attorneys is effective Wednesday, April 1. This NYLJ article explains the differences between the current and new rules

Differences between the old code and the new rules largely concern the more expansive definitions provided in the new guidelines . . . For instance, the new code declares that conflict waivers must be the product of informed consent confirmed in writing. "Informed consent," "confirmed in writing" and "writing" are all defined in the new rules. . .