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QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 16, 2019
Queens pol’s senior, tech crimes bills passed
BY BILL PARRY
With the legislative
session winding down in
Albany at the end of the
month, state Senator James
Sanders Jr. had three
pieces of key legislation
passed in the Senate in a
single day last week.
The three bills approved
on June 4 make important
strides toward protecting
seniors, the disabled,
teachers and victims of
tech crimes.
His bill, known as S.2475.
Pertains to computerrelated
crimes and would
update the computerrelated
provisions of the
law. The bill would add
more detailed definitions
to cover a modern range of
circumstances, and would
include the definitions
for computer system,
government computer
system, public safety
infrastructure computer
system, supporting
documentation, injury,
victim expenditure,
computer containment,
internet domain
name, electronic mail
and profile.
“In today’s world of
cyber terrorism and
technological warfare, it is
essential to modernize the
state’s computer-related
crimes law,” Sanders said.
“This includes establishing
definitions of terms,
expanding provisions,
establishing more specific
offenses and providing
civil remedies.”
The second piece of
legislation, S.3224, is
the SCRIE Rollback Act.
This measure provides
retroactively to the
original date of eligibility
in certain cases for
the senior citizens
rent increase
exemption (SCRIE) and
disability rent increase
exemption (DRIE).
If a senior did not
apply for SCRIE until they
reached age 70, but they
had been eligible at age
62, this legislation would
provide them with a rent
increase exemption based
on their rent when they
became eligible, but only
back to when they were
age 68.
“Many seniors and
disabled people are living
on a fixed income and rents
are very high in New York
City and around the state,”
Sanders said. “This bill,
which extends SCRIE and
DRIE, will be enormously
helpful to many people
struggling to keep a roof
over their heads.”
The final piece of
legislation, S.5410,
relates to the cumulative
grade point average
admission requirement
for graduate-level
teacher and educational
leader programs.
The bill would remove
the requirement that
applicants admitted into
a graduate-level teacher
and leader education
programs have achieved a
3.0 minimum cumulative
grade point average in
the candidate’s
undergraduate program.
Advocates agree
that whether or not an
applicant obtained a
3.0 undergraduate GPA
does not serve as a good
indicator or an applicant’s
ability or potential to be a
great teacher or principal.
Under the current
law, students with these
issues would be prevented
from being admitted
into a graduate-level
teacher of leadership
preparation program.
This bill would
instead allow for the
state’s teacher colleges
to have the authority to
accept students that fit
their program, including
those from minority and
underrepresented groups
in the profession.
“This legislation will
open up more opportunities
for those seeking to
become teachers as well
as increase the diversity
of good quality educators
that we have in our school
system,” Sanders said.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by email at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
State Senator James Sanders Jr. has three pieces of legislation pass Tuesday that stands up
for seniors, the disabled, teachers and tech crime victims. Courtesy of Sanders’ office
Got a ticket? Contest it at Flushing ‘pop-up court’
BY JACOB KAYE
Justice is coming to the
Queens Public Library
in Flushing.
A neighborhood popup
court will appear
inside the Flushing
branch of the Queens
Public Library on June
20, the New York City
Office of Administrative
Trials and Hearings
announced on Monday.
The pop-up court will
offer Queens residents
with certain city-issued
summonses the ability
to appear in front of a
hearing officer without
leaving their home
borough, the city office,
known as OATH, said.
This month’s pop-up is
the first to be held in
the immigrant-heavy
Flushing area.
“Giving residents
access to the OATH
courts right in their
backyard can serve as
a tremendous benef it
to both the city as
it looks to resolve
backlogs of violations
and to residents
by expedit ing the
court process,” said
Councilman Peter
Koo, who represents
the district the court
wi l l be held in.
Marisa Senigo, a
deputy commissioner at
OATH, said holding the
pop-up court in Flushing
is, in part, meant to help
non-Engl ish- speaking
immigrants who may
fear a court summons.
“Having it in
i m m i g r a n t - h e a v y
communities helps them
understand that they
could come and they
shouldn’t be scared,”
Senigo said. “This is a
safe place to come and
they shouldn’t worry.”
Translation services
will be provided in 250
languages, Senigo said.
Senigo said having
the pop-up court in the
Flushing area is also
important because
“this is an area that is
difficult to get to.”
OATH’s Queens office
is located in Long Island
City, and by holding
the pop-up court in
Flushing, the office
hopes to make arguing
against a city summons
more convenient for
those living in eastern
Queens neighborhoods.
Only certain
summonses, such
as alleged rodent
violations, having
an open container of
alcohol, littering or
public urination, are
eligible to be heard
in the one-day court.
Alleged parking,
traffic, speeding
or red light camera
violations will not be
heard inside the library
because the Of fice of
Administrative Trials
and Hearings is not the
office responsible for
those cases.
Additionally, the
pop-up will only see
summonses assigned a
hearing date of June 20,
2019, or after.
On average, popup
courts tend to hear
around 10 cases per day,
according to Senigo.
Pop-up courts were
conceived to both
al leviate the stress
on the OATH of fices
and to ensure that
defendants don’t have
to travel far to get their
cases heard. The first
neighborhood pop-up
court was held in Apri l
2018 in the Bronx. Since
then, 15 have been held
across the city, three
of which were held
in Queens.
Library services will
not be affected the day
of the pop-up court.
The Flushing Library on Main Street in Queens
Photo via Wikimedia Commons/Jim.henderson
/schnepsmedia.com
