ALBANY — State Republican legislators this week unveiled a legislative package they said will create a safer New York.

State Sen. Tom O’Mara, Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay, Sen. Alexis Weik, Assemblyman Robert Smullen, members of law enforcement, victims’ advocates, and members of the Senate and Assembly Republican Conferences on Jan. 23 unveiled the plan they said offers comprehensive policy solutions that supports law enforcement, fixes the state’s criminal justice system, cracks down on illegal gun crime, and protects victims and innocent New Yorkers.

“New Yorkers are not adequately protected under current state law. Qualified judges are prohibited from using basic, common-sense assessments of threat levels posed by the individuals coming before them, and the results have been critically disastrous. We have seen the full measure of what these policies are doing to our communities, and it is abundantly clear we must drastically change course now, before the situation deteriorates any further,” Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay said, in a statement.

Sen. James Tedisco, who represents the 44th Senate District, which includes Saratoga County, joined Tammy Patrick of Johnstown at the New York State Capitol. Patrick’s 77-year-old father, John Lee of Gloversville, was fatally stabbed on June 9, 2022.  Lee was allegedly killed by a person who was arrested and charged with assaulting another man the day before Mr. Lee’s murder, and then released.

Prior to the bail reform law passing, the judge would have had the discretion of being able to hold the defendant on bail, preventing the loss of life, Tedisco said. 

“My father, John Lee, lost his life to a vicious perpetrator who was on the street because of what has been called the ‘criminal justice bail reform laws.’ I felt obligated to speak out at the Capitol to say that it is not working and is in fact putting the lives of all New Yorkers at risk,” Patrick said. “It is time to give discretion back to the judges and keep violent criminals off our streets. If this had happened before, my dad would be with us today.” 

“With Gov. Hochul’s and the Majorities’ criminal justice failures now, there needs to be a new name for ‘crime victims’: It’s ‘Forgotten People!’ I’m proud to join my former constituent, Tammy Patrick (who) is in full support of my bi-partisan legislation to repeal the broken bail reform law and give judges real discretion to protect our communities and close the revolving door of danger and disaster,” Tedisco said.

The Republicans proposed: Creating the SAFER Communities Grant Program to invest in critical investigatory and prosecutorial resources designed to increase case clearance rates for homicide and gun crimes; Repealing HALT (The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act) to protect corrections officers; Allowing the use of familial DNA to give law enforcement more investigatory tools; Rolling back bail and discovery laws and provide for judicial discretion; Increasing penalties for habitual repeat offenders who commit crimes that harm New Yorkers’ quality of life; Reducing the use of illegal firearms with increased funding for gun interdiction efforts; Increasing penalties for crimes committed with stolen firearms, and mandatory consecutive sentencing for crimes involving illegal firearms; and Making any misdemeanor or felony offense involving an illegal firearm bail eligible, and amending Raise the Age to ensure 16- and 17-year-olds charged with certain gun or gang-related crimes are prosecuted as adults; Authorizing judges to set lifetime orders of protection for certain crimes, such as violent and domestic violence felonies.

SARATOGA —Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D–Round Lake) held a press conference Jan. 24, to bring attention to the financial and staffing crises facing Upstate New York’s nursing homes. 

Woerner called for action to deliver what she called long-overdue support to the state’s nursing homes and to implement a plan that keeps this support in place to prevent a similar crisis. 

“The connection between insufficient funding to nursing homes and those facilities losing staff and available beds is crystal clear. Equally clear is what we’ve got to do to reverse this alarming decline impacting all of New York,” Woerner said, in a statement. “In this year’s state budget, I’ll fight for our nursing homes and seek a fair raise in Medicaid reimbursement rates. This crucial investment will help older New Yorkers receive the vital care they need and deserve.”

As state lawmakers prepare to craft next year’s state budget, nursing homes are asking for a 20% increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates, which have not been reexamined for 15 years nor adjusted for inflation. 

New York is home to more than 600 nursing homes. Woerner said they have faced funding issues as well as critical staffing shortages, with staff members affected by the harsh combination of overwork, burnout and stagnant wages, which have spurred many workers to find positions in other states or leave the field entirely. 

“It has been the toughest of financial times for most nursing homes in New York State over the past decade. The last three years have driven many non-profit nursing homes to the brink. Without a meaningful increase in Medicaid funding, many of us will struggle to continue to operate as we do today, impacting the entire health care system,” Brian Nealon, CEO of The Wesley Community, said in a statement. 

At Wesley Health Care Center in Saratoga Springs, Medicaid pays for nearly 75% of the residents; over the past 15 years, costs have increased by more than 42% due to inflation, and during that same period the Medicaid reimbursement rate has only increased by 1%, Nealon said. 

BALLSTON SPA — Board of Supervisors Chairman Todd Kusnierz on Jan. 17 announced his member appointments to the county’s 12 Standing Committees.  

Saratoga Springs City Supervisor Tara Gaston was appointed to the Trails & Open Space Committee; City Supervisor Matt Veitch was appointed as member to a handful of committees including the Buildings & Grounds Committee of which he will serve as chair.  

The committees are typically where the initial work is debated regarding topics later sent to the Board of Supervisors for their ultimate approval.  The Law and Finance Committee specifically is the last Committee meeting scheduled prior to the Regular Meeting of the Board of Supervisors, and Items approved by the Law and Finance Committee constitute the agenda of the Board of Supervisors Regular Meetings. 

ALBANY — New York Attorney General Letitia James reached an agreement on Jan. 9 with Bell Pet Company, LLC (Bell Pet) – which does business as The Pet Zone, and its owners for misleading consumers about the health of the pets they sold to New Yorkers. 

The Pet Zone, which has stores in Albany, Poughkeepsie, Watertown, and Queensbury, misled customers about the health of the pets they purchased by providing incomplete medical records, James said. 

The agreement requires Bell Pet to pay a civil penalty and create a restitution fund of up to $200,000 to reimburse eligible consumers for medical costs. 

“Deceiving families into buying sick puppies and kittens is not only cruel, it’s illegal,” said Attorney General James. “The Pet Zone turned a happy moment of bringing home a new pet into misery for pet owners when they discovered that their pet was sick and that they had to pay expensive medical bills to help them recover. This agreement will ensure that no one is deceived about the health of a pet they bring home. I encourage any individual who purchased a pet from The Pet Zone and was misled about their health to file a claim for reimbursement.”

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that The Pet Zone provided consumers with deceptive medical records that did not include a full list of medication provided to the pet to hide previous illnesses. The Pet Zone offered consumers an online tracking system called “PetKey,” which the defendants claimed included a full list of all the medication provided to the pet prior to purchase. The OAG found that on several occasions, PetKey failed to list medications, including antibiotics, provided to pets and once the pets were brought home, they became sick.

Today’s agreement requires The Pet Zone to create a restitution fund of up to $200,000 to reimburse eligible consumers who purchased pets in or after January 2014 and within 14 days of purchase received a certification from a vet that their pet was sick and should have been unfit for sale. Eligible consumers will be reimbursed for their veterinary costs related to the vet’s certification and treatment for the illness up to the total cost of the pet, including tax. The fund will be available to any qualifying consumers for 12 months. In addition, The Pet Zone must pay $2,500 in penalties to the state.

As part of the settlement, within the next 30 days, the Pet Zone will be required to post information about submitting claims for anyone who believes they may be eligible to seek reimbursement. In the interim, if New Yorkers have questions about this settlement, they are encouraged to contact the OAG Watertown Regional office at 315-523-6080.

The agreement also requires The Pet Zone to ensure that every pet has been examined by a licensed vet and has received all the vaccinations as required by state and local law with accurate and complete records provided to consumers. Additionally, The Pet Zone is required to train its employees and visibly alert consumers to the requirements of the Pet Lemon Law. The Pet Zone must identify a corporate point of contact for all Pet Lemon Law claims.

SCHUYLERVILLE — What do you do with a broken toaster? Or with a lamp that won’t work? Or with a favorite shirt that is ripped? Toss it? No way! Schuylerville Public Library is organizing its second Repair Café from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.  

Various volunteer repair experts will be available to help make all possible repairs free of charge. Most tools and materials will also be on hand. 

People visiting the Repair Café will bring along their broken items from home. Limit of two items per person.  Small appliances, lamps, hair dryers, radios, clothes, toys… anything that is broken and small enough to carry is welcome and can more than likely be repaired. The Repair Café specialists almost always have the know-how.

Interested in volunteering for this event, as a repairer? Contact Caitlin Johnson at cjohnson@sals.edu.

The Repair Café concept arose in the Netherlands, in 2009, and was formulated by Martine Postma, at the time an Amsterdam-based journalist/publicist. In 2010, she started the Repair Café Foundation (see Repaircafe.org). This foundation provides support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Café. The foundation also supports the Repair Café in the Schuylerville Public Library.