UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) is accepting students for its new mechatronics certificate program. The one-year program provides additional “specialized” skills for “high-tech, high-skilled” careers in advanced-manufacturing fields, such as nanotechnology. The school’s fall semester begins Aug. 26, MVCC said in a July 13 news release. Mechatronics refers to both the […]
UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) is accepting students for its new mechatronics certificate program.
The one-year program provides additional “specialized” skills for “high-tech, high-skilled” careers in advanced-manufacturing fields, such as nanotechnology.
The school’s fall semester begins Aug. 26, MVCC said in a July 13 news release.
Mechatronics refers to both the software and code and the hardware on the line in an advanced-manufacturing facility, says Matthew Snyder, executive director of marketing and communications at MVCC.
“Mechatronics is about how to program that robot arm and all the related types of equipment that exist on advanced-manufacturing line,” says Snyder.
He spoke with CNYBJ on July 20.
MVCC designed the program for someone who doesn’t know anything about advanced manufacturing, says Snyder. It targets both traditional and non-traditional students
“We anticipate recruiting students graduating [from] high school. We anticipate recruiting displaced workers, or people who are employed but are looking to change careers,” says Snyder.
The school also anticipates interest among current MVCC students, he adds.
“It’s so directly connected to the growth industry of nanotechnology … We have a lot of prospective students coming to us asking how can [they] get employment ready in nanotech[nology] and this is a direct answer to that question,” says Snyder.
The student spends a year in the program, and, if academically successful, will have the skills needed to pursue jobs in advanced manufacturing, says Snyder.
The mechatronics program will prepare students to work in the operation, installation, and maintenance of automated and robotically controlled systems.
Graduates will be qualified for “immediate,” entry-level employment and can pursue careers in advanced manufacturing as machinists, tool operators, and nanotechnology support, MVCC contends.
MVCC designed the one-year program to “complement” its existing electrical-service technician associate-degree program, the school said.
Students can transfer the credits to the electrical-service technician — electrical-maintenance associate in occupational studies degree, if students decide to pursue that path.
The mechatronics certificate will also help prepare students who want to pursue industry-recognized certifications, the college said.
“Manufacturing as we know it is being transformed by new technology,” Randall VanWagoner, MVCC president, said in the school’s news release. “MVCC designed this program to respond to the Mohawk Valley’s need for a more robust, updated skill set in conjunction with the statewide initiative to provide programs
featuring hands-on learning for high-tech industry, training workers how to operate the new technology that can help our community and economy thrive.”
Tuition, program costs
Annual tuition for the certificate program is $3,960, says Snyder, noting that students can apply for federal student aid and scholarships to help in paying the tuition cost.
MVCC is launching the certificate program with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor through a Trade Act Adjustment and Community College Career Training grant awarded to SUNY, the school said.
The $640,000 grant covered the costs of curriculum development and the development of two labs at the MVCC’s Utica campus, says Snyder.
The school also created an instructional position for teaching mechatronics courses.
MVCC also worked with the Manufacturers Association of Central New York while organizing the certificate program, “so it directly addresses the needs of local employers,” says Snyder.
Applications are available in the student-services offices in Payne Hall at the Utica campus, the Plumley Complex at the Rome campus, or online at www.mvcc.edu/application.
Mohawk Valley Community College, the first community college in New York, has focused on manufacturing and technology education since 1946, according to Snyder.
SYRACUSE — The Central New York Community Foundation is preparing for a second session of the Marsellus executive-development program for executive directors of nonprofit organizations in Onondaga and Madison counties. The Marsellus program offers nonprofit leaders a chance to “brush up” on their leadership and work-performance skills, the Community Foundation said in a news
SYRACUSE — The Central New York Community Foundation is preparing for a second session of the Marsellus executive-development program for executive directors of nonprofit organizations in Onondaga and Madison counties.
The Marsellus program offers nonprofit leaders a chance to “brush up” on their leadership and work-performance skills, the Community Foundation said in a news release issued July 14.
The program started in 2014 and the first class finished this past spring, says John Eberle, vice president of grants and community initiatives at the Community Foundation.
“It’s very focused on the job, the role of being the executive director,” he says of the program.
Eberle spoke with CNYBJ on July 17.
The Community Foundation and Syracuse–based The Leading Element, a third-party consultant, designed the six-month initiative to help nonprofit executives “who are ready to achieve maximum impact in their organizations.”
The program focuses on four main “strategies” to assist the leaders in “feeling more energized,” according to the release.
They include a 360-degree assessment of each individual’s strengths and opportunities for growth.
“Here’s my strengths. Here’s my weaknesses … gives you a snapshot of some things that you might want to consider working on,” says Eberle in describing what the assessment seeks to accomplish.
The strategies also include 90 minutes of individual coaching sessions per month, consultant-led peer learning sessions that run three hours per month, and group-led peer meetings that also take three hours per month.
The program accepted all eight applicants who expressed interest for the 2014 pilot program.
For the upcoming session, the foundation will limit the involvement to 10 or 12 participants, says Eberle.
The program is free of charge for participants. The Community Foundation spends $16,000 to offer it, Katrina Crocker, the foundation’s director of communications,
said in response to a follow-up email from CNYBJ.
The program requires participants to provide a time investment of about 8-10 hours per month. Sessions will run from September through March.
The Leading Element conducts the program at “multiple” sites, says Eberle.
Program origin
The Community Foundation has offered the Marsellus sabbatical “for many years,” a four-week sabbatical for nonprofit executives.
“That was really beneficial for … leaders to get away, get some education, get recharged,” says Eberle.
In the years during and after the recession, local nonprofit leaders started indicating they didn’t feel comfortable leaving their organizations for a full month for a sabbatical.
So, the Community Foundation started pondering other ideas to address the needs for nonprofit leadership, he says.
“Times are really tough. I can’t leave, but I need support,” says Eberle, paraphrasing the concerns from leaders’ feedback.
Nonprofit executives wanted guidance on just-in-time training and peer support, he notes.
Eberle in 2013 started working with The Leading Element to organize the executive-development program.
The Community Foundation had worked with The Leading Element on “a few other projects,” he adds.
The executive-development program is named for the Marsellus family of Central New York, a donor to the Community Foundation. The family once operated the Marsellus Casket Company in Syracuse, says Eberle.
A member of the family, John Marsellus, is also donates to the Community Foundation and nonprofits in the Syracuse area.
“He is also actively involved in the leadership-development program, so we wanted to honor him for his ongoing commitment,” he says.
Community Foundation is the key sponsor and hired the Leading Element to operate the program. Foundation staff members don’t participate in the sessions,
citing its sensitivity to its relationship to nonprofits as a “funder.”
“Some of the executive directors might not feel as free to share some of the things they’re working on if a funder was in the room,” says Eberle.
VESTAL — Construction-site work on the planned $30 million UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center is underway at 4433 State Route 434 (the Vestal Parkway East) in Vestal. Crews started the demolition work on the site of the former Van Atta car dealership about five weeks ago, says Danielle Donlin, UHS program director for musculoskeletal
VESTAL — Construction-site work on the planned $30 million UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center is underway at 4433 State Route 434 (the Vestal Parkway East) in Vestal.
Crews started the demolition work on the site of the former Van Atta car dealership about five weeks ago, says Danielle Donlin, UHS program director for musculoskeletal services.
She spoke to CNYBJ on July 17.
UHS expects the 68,000-square-foot Comprehensive Orthopedic Center, which crews will build adjacent to UHS Vestal, to open in late 2016, the organization said in a news release issued June 24.
Regional, technological, and industry trends are driving the need for such a facility in the area.
“Our region’s aging population, coupled with technologic[al] advancements and minimally invasive surgical techniques, results in a growing need for orthopedic and similar services in the Southern Tier,” Matthew Salanger, president and CEO of UHS, said in the release.
Binghamton–based UHS, which is short for United Health Services, is the third largest health system in Central New York, according to the 2015 Book of Lists.
The New York State Department of Health found UHS’ evidence of public need for the new orthopedic center “compelling” and “quickly” approved its certificate of need, or application, necessary to launch the project, according to the release.
“It’s a fairly large process. It probably had to do with the market and the growth of our current practices and how there’s no more room for expansion and it’s on-site,” says Donlin.
The Town of Vestal approved the project at its March planning-committee meeting.
About the center
The UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center will house UHS’ medical programs in orthopedics, podiatry, chiropractic, rheumatology, and physical therapy, according to the UHS news release.
Each of those services will relocate from another UHS site to make the new location its home.
UHS said it has designed the new facility to accommodate “significant” growth and to allow for the recruitment of additional health-care providers.
The new building will also house the Binghamton area’s largest sports-medicine practice, UHS said. It will feature areas for post-surgical strength conditioning and a concussion program specifically related to sports injuries.
The new orthopedic center will employ more than 125 people, including providers and staff, and will create at least 15 new jobs once it opens, UHS said.
It expects the facility to record 125,000 outpatient visits per year.
UHS is designing and building the Comprehensive Orthopedic Center to “complement” its Vestal complex next door, creating an outpatient campus that hosts a number of UHS medical programs at one, “centralized” location, the organization said.
Architecturally, the new building will be a “companion” to the UHS Vestal structure. Chianis + Anderson Architects, PLLC designed the Comprehensive Orthopedic Center, while LeChase Construction is the contractor on the project, says Donlin.
UHS is a locally owned, nonprofit, 916-bed hospital and health-care system serving Greater Binghamton and surrounding counties.
Founded in 1981, UHS provides medical, surgical, rehabilitative, and long-term care services from more than 60 locations around New York’s Southern Tier.
UTICA — Premera, Anthem Health, SONY, Staples, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, Michaels, Target, the Pentagon, Westinghouse Electric, U.S. Steel, the United Steelworkers union, and Community Health Systems. What do these organizations have in common? It turns out that the above entities have all suffered a security breach of their computer systems, with hackers enjoying
UTICA — Premera, Anthem Health, SONY, Staples, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, Michaels, Target, the Pentagon, Westinghouse Electric, U.S. Steel, the United Steelworkers union, and Community Health Systems. What do these organizations have in common?
It turns out that the above entities have all suffered a security breach of their computer systems, with hackers enjoying access to hundreds of millions of sensitive, private records. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ website states that since September 2009, the health-care industry alone has recorded “133.2 million breach victims.” (The website lists only health-data breaches affecting 500 or more individuals.) Usually, the offenders are intent upon committing economic crime, but an increasing number are focusing on penetrating national security.
“Today, cybersecurity is involved in most economic crimes,” says Raymond L. Philo, a professor of practice in criminal justice at Utica College and the executive director of the college’s Economic Crime and Cybersecurity Institute (ECCI). “Both the public and private sectors are starting to realize just how big the problem is.”
In a research report issued in October 2014, the Ponemon Institute — a Michigan–based research firm focused on privacy, data protection, and information-security policy — quantified the economic impact of cyber attacks conducted via the Internet. (The report dealt only with those costs associated with detecting, investigating, managing incident responses, business disruption, and loss of customers. Costs associated with maintaining a security posture or compliance were excluded from the study.) Ponemon estimated cybercrime cost the U.S. $12.69 billion last year, an average increase of 9.3 percent over the previous year. All industries fall victim to cybercrime, but energy and utilities, defense, and financial services experience the highest costs. Information theft represents the largest external cost followed by the costs associated with business disruption. The mean number of days to resolve or contain cyber attacks is 45, at an average cost of $35,647 per day, a 33 percent cost increase over last year. Cybercrime detection and recovery costs represent about half of all costs associated with a breach, highlighting a significant cost-reduction opportunity for government and business.
ECCI
Utica College is focused on the opportunity. “The growing trend of cybercrime is drawing attention to economic-crime issues,” says Philo, “and consequently leading corporate, government, and law-enforcement organizations to the Institute. ECCI was established back in 1988 as the Economic Crime Institute (ECI), in a world then dominated by mainframe and mini-computers; personal computers were still new and far from … [ubiquitous]. Our role was to serve as a think-tank that supports leading-edge thinking on economic-crime issues faced by business, government, and enforcement agencies and that offers educational programs, policy guidance, research, and solutions. In short, we were and continue to be a forum for the exchange of ideas, innovative solutions, and technology that manages the risk of economic crime and serves as a resource for investigation and prevention of cybercrime.
ECCI also supports the college faculty in the development of academic programs to foster the next generation of leaders in this field. We added ‘cybersecurity’ to our name in 2013 to reflect the growing awareness of cybercrime. This change came from a recommendation of our board of advisers, a group of approximately 30 practitioners who help to guide the Institution.”
NCFC
Complementing ECCI’s role as a think-tank is the Northeast Cybersecurity and Forensics Center (NCFC). Located on the Utica College campus in the same building as ECCI, NCFC operates two laboratories — one that focuses on forensics and the other on cybersecurity.
“We are a partnership of academic, government, and private-sector resources,” says Anthony Martino, NCFC director and an adjunct instructor at Utica College, “that provides digital-forensic services as well as the operation of a state-of-the-art computer-crime laboratory. The forensics lab has long been a resource to law-enforcement agencies, including all agencies in Oneida County, the FBI, Homeland Security, the Secret Service, and other state and local agencies.”
On the cybersecurity side, “… we are now processing more work for the private than the public sector. The rise in data breaches has been the impetus for corporations to use our vulnerability assessments where we test-penetrate a company’s computer-security system. With the rise of mobile banking, financial services is becoming a major area of concentration followed by manufacturing, insurance, small business, and health care,” Martino says. “Also, many of our private-sector clients are coming to us because growing cybersecurity regulations demand strict compliance. Our clients are not usually technical people, so they come to the center for help. For example, ECCI is currently working with a financial-services firm to develop policy and procedures to be in compliance with mounting regulation. Our responsibility is not only to develop the plan but also to train the company’s staff.”
NCFC grew from an alliance between Utica College and the Utica Police Department. “The college provided the lab space on campus and the police department ran the operation,” recalls Martino, a 20-year veteran of the police department. “When I retired from the Utica Police Department, Utica College took over the responsibility for the crime lab (June 2013), which today… [boasts] an outstanding skill set. NCFC has built a reputation for expertise and quick turnaround times, all based on a proven track record. On the forensic side, we are working more with law firms and individuals in litigation support and in internal investigations. There is a growing demand for digital forensics, and fortunately I have half-a-dozen, full-time [Utica College] faculty plus adjuncts and students to support the center.”
Martino has ambitious plans for NCFC. “The demand from companies has pushed us to create a new program called ‘Cybersecurity for Managers,’ ” he says. “This September, we will kick off a three-day boot camp here on campus to teach managers how to talk the talk with employees and regulators. The boot camp is designed to give them a working knowledge of and solutions for cyber threats. The session will provide hands-on, practical course work and is limited to 25 registrants. If the demand is there, we will schedule additional sessions later in the year.”
Small-business incubator
While the boot camp is on Martino’s front burner, he is also turning his attention to another idea, one that has been simmering for a long time. “I want to create a small-business incubator for students with entrepreneurial interests. I would make it part of the academic programs here at the college for those who would like to start a business. [Utica College] has a large body of alumni who could help mentor the students in business areas and a number of alumni from the School of Economic Crime and Justice Studies who bring cybersecurity experience. The college also has a large faculty to act as mentors. I would like to see this project launched next year.” Martino is already thinking about potential sites for the incubator.
Students in the Economic Crime, Justice Studies, and Cybersecurity program at Utica College get hands-on experience both at ECCI and NCFC. “We work with undergraduate and graduate students,” affirms Philo. “The idea is to encourage student engagement and provide real-world experience.” Martino echoes the sentiment. “NCFC encourages 15-week internships, typically for seniors.” He cites the following example. “Some of the students at the center are currently engaged in a research project for the Air Force Research Laboratory, testing the security of desktop computers. There is no doubt that this practical work makes our students more marketable.” In an interview last September with this reporter and James Norrie, dean of the School of Business and Justice Studies, the dean pointed out that 93 percent of the school’s recent graduates found jobs and the other 7 percent went on to graduate school. The industry currently has a 1 percent unemployment rate nationally.
Philo also points to the recent college valedictorian as another example of student marketability. Jared Platt, who majored in economic crime and who carried a 4.0 GPA, was a student researcher and volunteered in the Oneida Country District Attorney’s office. He attended a mock interview on campus with a member of ECCI’s board of advisors, Matthew Quinn, who is a cybersecurity officer at the Boston office of Santander Bank, N.A. (The Santander Group, headquartered in Spain, has 190,000 employees in Europe and the Americas, 14,500 branches, and 102 million customers.) The mock interview became a real interview, and Platt was hired on the spot for a position as a financial analyst. “That’s how good our students are,” exclaims Philo.
Both Philo and Martino bring strong credentials to their director positions. Prior to joining Utica College, Philo was a law-enforcement administrator, retiring as the chief of police of the New Hartford Police Department. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Utica College and earned a master’s degree in public administration from Marist College in Poughkeepsie. A faculty member at Utica College since 2001, he also serves as director of research for the college’s department of Economic Crime, Justice Studies, and Cybersecurity. Philo is currently a consultant with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and a director of the Griffiss Institute.
Martino earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from SUNY Geneseo in 1992 and a master’s degree in economic-crime management from Utica College in 2004. In his two-decade career at the Utica Police Department, he supervised four units and conducted 100 digital forensic examinations a year. His professional experience also includes work with the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. Martino has headed NCFC since 2013.
Changes in medicine make working for someone else more appealing, says retired physician Young doctors have lost interest in going solo. A recent survey of doctors-in-training in their final year of residency showed that just 2 percent want a go-it-alone practice. Instead, their goal is to seek balance between their private and
Changes in medicine make working for someone else more appealing, says retired physician
Young doctors have lost interest in going solo.
A recent survey of doctors-in-training in their final year of residency showed that just 2 percent want a go-it-alone practice.
Instead, their goal is to seek balance between their private and professional lives by working for someone else, such as a hospital, clinic, or large group practice.
That’s according to a survey by MerrittHawkins, a physician staffing firm and subsidiary of AMN Healthcare, which say it is the largest health-care staffing company in the U.S.
A mixture of technological advances, health-insurance payment models, corporate-business models, and other factors have brought drastic changes to the medical profession, that have been building for decades.
People of my vintage went into medicine for what seemed to be all the right reasons. We expected to work long hours, to be at the call of someone in distress, to sacrifice youth to gain knowledge and experience, and to sacrifice time with family to alleviate the suffering of others.
That selfless philosophy makes it all the more puzzling why [my] generation of doctors allowed health care to evolve into an industry more concerned about profits and quarterly earnings than patient care.
I think the trend probably began in the early 1960s when physicians declined the opportunity to take an active role in the management of hospitals and health care. Instead, they hired administrators to do that work and did not pay close attention to the results. That was just the beginning of the shift, though. Over time, the groundwork was laid for the practice of medicine to be controlled by the reimbursement polices of insurance companies and corporate business practices.
Physicians lost control of the health-care system and became managers of therapeutic teams.
Today, there is a decreasing emphasis on self-sacrifice and individualism, and an increase in group practice or organizational medicine where hours are predictable. You can’t necessarily blame young doctors for the decisions they are making. It’s just been the natural progression of things.
Until the profit motive is purged from medicine, any talk and action to improve the health-care system will be of little or no benefit. There are barriers to those needed changes happening, though, including:
*Health care as an industry comprises 18 percent of GDP. No one will tamper with it for fear of uncomfortable or egregious economic fallout. It could have been done during the formation of the Affordable Care Act, but it was not.
*There are far too many stakeholders in the current system to consider shutting it down or even to make large changes. Many industries support health-care organizations with day-to-day services and supplies. Other industries create, provide, and manage the increasingly complex technology used in health care. Entire educational systems, from medical schools to community colleges that train lower-level technical and nursing staff, are engaged in supporting the system. The insurance industry that manages payments is an enormous employer that is itself responsible for driving up the cost of care. Finally, the individuals employed in all of the above are dependent upon the continued functioning of this “out-of-control creation” for their livelihoods.
Not all is pessimistic in the world of medicine, though. Technological advances have helped both patients and doctors by providing the tools and knowledge to diagnose disease more accurately and treat it more efficiently.
So, while some of the human touch in the doctor/patient relationship is gone, the importance of better patient outcomes shouldn’t be dismissed.
Although I find a personal health-care visit to be a sterile interaction, I cannot deny it is more efficient and more effective than the medicine we practiced. Our model has gone, and another has taken its place.
J. Joseph Marr, M.D. is a retired academic physician and pharmaceutical and biotechnology executive who lives near Denver. Dr. Marr is the author of more than 200 academic publications, and has authored and edited six books, including “Fall From Grace: A Physician’s Retrospective on the Past Fifty Years of Medicine and the Impact of Social Change.”
SYRACUSE — The American Hockey League (AHL) will hold its all-star game in Central New York for a second consecutive season in 2016. AHL CEO David Andrews on May 18 announced that the minor league’s board of governors had “unanimously” approved the Syracuse Crunch to host the next all-star game, according to a news
SYRACUSE — The American Hockey League (AHL) will hold its all-star game in Central New York for a second consecutive season in 2016.
AHL CEO David Andrews on May 18 announced that the minor league’s board of governors had “unanimously” approved the Syracuse Crunch to host the next all-star game, according to a news release posted on the Crunch website.
Andrews repeated the announcement for a local audience at a news conference at the Onondaga County War Memorial on May 27.
The Utica Comets hosted this past season’s all-star game at the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Jan. 26.
The league, which features a number of players that go on to play in the National Hockey League (NHL), contends the War Memorial will provide a “perfect backdrop” to “celebrate our past while showcasing the brightest young stars in hockey,” according to the May 18 news release.
CNYBJ asked Andrews if it’s unusual to hold the game in the same region in back-to-back years.
“I think we will take a little criticism from fans around the league for that. We haven’t been out west in a long time,” Andrews acknowledged, as he spoke with reporters following the May 27 local announcement.
Syracuse served as a charter member city in the AHL in 1936. So the league “saw the fit” between a league charter-member city and the 80th anniversary, says Andrews. [Syracuse Crunch owner] Howard [Dolgon] and his staff “very clearly” have the ability to deliver a “first-class, special event.”
“For us, it’s a no-brainer to put those two things together to celebrate our 80th anniversary,” says Andrews.
The Crunch will enter their 22nd season as members of the AHL in 2015-16, but the city’s history in the league traces back to the Syracuse Stars, which won the very first Calder Cup championship in 1936-37, according to the news release.
“In my mind, we will definitely have a heritage feel to the event … we want to make certain that we really celebrate our 80th in a great way,” Andrews said in speaking with reporters after the presentation.
In operation since 1936, the AHL serves as the “top” development league for all 30 teams in the NHL.
CNYBJ also asked Andrews about the economic impact the AHL all-star game can have on a region.
He didn’t provide a specific dollar figure but estimates the event will attract about 1,000 out-of-town fans from places such as Utica, Albany, Rochester, Hershey, and the Wilkes Barre–Scranton area.
“There’s going to be a lot of demand for tickets for folks coming in from those areas,” says Andrews.
Minor-league hockey fans have purchased about one-third of the seats at the War Memorial for the all-star game, Megan Cahill, public & media-relations manager for the Syracuse Crunch, said in response to an email inquiry from CNYBJ.
Requesting Syracuse
When Andrews approached Dolgon about hosting the all-star game, the Crunch owner requested time to think about it, considering his staff had just organized the Frozen Dome Classic in the Carrier Dome in November, something Dolgon called an “undertaking.”
“So, once the staff embraced [it] and [Onondaga County] embraced it, it became easier to say … it makes sense for us to move ahead for all the right reasons,” says Dolgon.
The challenge for the Syracuse Crunch staff members is how they can make this all-star game presentation “an event,” says Dolgon.
The Crunch owner is aiming for an atmosphere similar to what a National Football League city does when it hosts the Super Bowl.
“I want that same feel of when the All-Star Game comes here,” says Dolgon.
The all-star game also provides additional ticket sales and sponsorship opportunities for the Syracuse Crunch, he adds.
“It extends our brand on a national level, which we always think about doing,” says Dolgon.
Very often, legislative bodies pass ill-advised laws in response to tragedies in hopes that the new laws will work to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future. I used to work for a judge who would say bad facts make bad law. This is true in the legislative process and no truer is the
Very often, legislative bodies pass ill-advised laws in response to tragedies in hopes that the new laws will work to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future. I used to work for a judge who would say bad facts make bad law. This is true in the legislative process and no truer is the case with the NY-SAFE Act, which passed in January 2014, shortly following the Newtown, Connecticut school-shooting tragedy. Since its passage, law-enforcement officials, 2nd amendment advocates, outdoor enthusiasts, and others have panned the law. The general criticisms of the law, which I agree with, are: (1) that its drafters had a limited knowledge of firearms, (2) the law will not do much to prevent another Newtown tragedy, and (3) it infringes on law-abiding citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights.
Since its passage, there have been numerous attempts to repeal the SAFE Act, or at the very least amend the law to remove some of its more egregious provisions.
Unfortunately, because the New York Assembly is controlled by New York City Democrats who generally favor any gun-control measures, legislative efforts have failed. Furthermore, even if the New York Legislature voted to repeal the act, or make significant changes to it, that legislation would likely be vetoed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The governor after all drafted the legislation and was its biggest champion.
It is the governor’s continued, unwavering advocacy for gun control and the SAFE Act that makes the latest news regarding the legislation a head-scratcher. On July 10, Jim Malatras, the governor’s director of state operations, and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was first reported to be an agreement to, among other things, scrap the requirement that background checks be performed on purchasers of ammunition. However, after pushback, especially from supporters of the SAFE Act, the governor’s counsel clarified the intent of the MOU was not to permanently scrap the background-check requirement but rather postpone its implementation until technology is developed to perform these background checks. Turns out this was much ado about nothing because most people who understand the provisions of the SAFE Act already knew that the background-check provisions were unworkable.
I understand the Senate majority leader’s willingness to enter into an MOU. After all, he and his conference, which is made up of mostly suburban and upstate legislators, have advocated for amendments to the SAFE Act (even full repeal) and presumably, they would be happy to get those changes whether by legislation or otherwise. However, I am troubled by the use of the MOU. The governor’s use of an MOU, even though it didn’t amount to much in this case, illustrates Cuomo’s willingness to bypass the legislative process. Why should the governor and a leader of a legislative conference be able to enter into an agreement that would, if it did what it was initially reported to do, bypass enacted legislation? This circumvents the democratic process. While I agree that the ammunition background-checks provision of the SAFE Act should be repealed, if this can be done by use of an MOU with one leader of the legislature, why couldn’t other policies be implemented or ignored by the same means?
We, unfortunately, have seen this in other areas and most recently with the governor empaneling a wage board that will presumably raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour. The governor couldn’t get the legislature to increase the minimum wage so he decides to do it on his own and target the fast-food industry. Many can understand that the governor wants to enact his agenda and that, at times, he is frustrated with his inability to get the state legislature to agree to pass his agenda. Frustration, however, is not a valid reason to bypass the democratic process. If he can’t convince legislators to support his proposed policies, maybe he should be a stronger advocate. Or, maybe his policies simply aren’t worth supporting.
William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us, or (315) 598-5185.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG), parent of First Niagara Bank, this morning reported second-quarter net income available to shareholders of $53.5
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The City of Syracuse will use $10 million in state funding for local infrastructure improvement, maintenance, and repair projects. Syracuse Mayor Stephanie
The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state surged by 15,693 to 38,985 in the week ending July 11, according
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