Gov. Hochul should veto a invoice that might let MTA staff in company autos park in bus lanes with impunity, even letting them skip court docket dates for any tickets issued, Albany’s prime authorities watchdog stated on Tuesday.
Reinvent Albany stated in a press release that the invoice — S6815/A8292 — is “unhealthy coverage and unhealthy governance” as a result of “it isn’t the position of the Legislature to handle New York Metropolis bus lanes and be concerned within the day-to-day operations of MTA buses.”
“The invoice permits MTA employees to quote being on the clock and in an company automobile to defend themselves from prosecutions for parking violations,” the group added. “Whereas this will superficially appear cheap — ‘They’re simply doing their jobs’ – we consider it will increase the chance that MTA employees will illegally use company autos to interrupt the regulation, as has been seen numerous instances with congestion pricing and parking placards.”
The invoice provides MTA staff “affirmative protection” whereas working licensed autos in a bus lane parking violation and conducting MTA enterprise whereas in that bus lane. It was sponsored by state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens) and Meeting Member Brian Cunningham (D-Brooklyn). The invoice sailed by each homes of the state Legislature in June and was delivered to the governor’s desk to await her signature on Monday.
Affirmative protection is a authorized idea the place a plaintiff can argue that she or he had a authorized justification to commit an offense. The invoice itself cited that idea to justify letting off any MTA staff from the inconvenience of disputing or paying a high-quality incurred whereas on MTA enterprise. But when staff can not clarify why they have been parked in a bus lane, they might not be lined by the provisions of the invoice.
Cunningham stated the entire level of the invoice was to keep away from staff going through the prospect of lacking a day of earnings with the intention to cope with a high-quality that could be unjustified. As well as, present regulation permits the MTA to move on the high-quality to staff, regardless of the offense occurring in considered one of their autos whereas staff are supposedly sustaining the system.
“I get the trepidation round double-parked autos basically within the metropolis, and get trepidation round vehicles which might be illegally in bus stops and busways and bus lanes,” he stated. “However this explicit one simply form of is a slap within the face to employees. Think about that somebody would get a ticket in a bus lane for repairing a bus whereas they’re an MTA employee and [it’s] forwarded to that particular person personally.”
He added that he was snug with focused reform that made this laws pointless, primarily blocking the MTA from passing tickets to its staff, and is particularly all ears “if someone in Albany needs to sit down with me and my group and provide you with a legislative resolution to have the MTA attraction tickets.”
This isn’t the one invoice that Hochul will think about that would offer leeway for bus lane blockers upset by tickets. Reinvent Albany can be hoping she vetoes an automatic ticketing carveout for Co-op Metropolis motorists who illegally park at bus stops, as Streetsblog beforehand reported.
A spokesperson for Gov. Hochul stated solely that “the governor will assessment the laws.”
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