Assemblymember Weprin achieved success in his fight to have Access-A-Ride service extend into Nassau County. Access-A-Ride provides transportation to disabled individuals who cannot use mass transit, but until recently it operated only within New York City, and riders who needed to reach destinations in Nassau County had to transfer at one of several points along the Queens/Nassau border. That is why Assemblymember Weprin drafted legislation to correct the injustice. In response to the continued push for a legislative solution, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Assemblymember Weprin reached an agreement to enable Access-A-Ride users to travel to any destination in Nassau County within three-quarters of a mile of the border. The change allows access to all parts of Long Island Jewish Hospital, and to many doctors’ offices and stores that Eastern Queens residents frequent. In addition, Access-A-Ride will go to North Shore University Hospital upon request.

QUEENS CHAMBER’S NEW INTERNSHIP PORTAL

left to right: Co-chair Mary Vavruska, Information Technology Committee, QCC; Assemblymember Mark S. Weprin; Executive Vice President Jack Friedman, QCC; President Albert F. Pennisi, QCC; Co-chair Jon Lawrence Postyn, QCC; Intern Site Developer Scott Wolpow, QCC.

The Queens Chamber of Commerce (QCC) launched its new Internship Portal, which will provide easy access for Queens businesses to contact the local education institutions that have students who are seeking business internships. Assemblymember Weprin, Chair of the New York State Committee on Small Business and a leading advocate for New York’s small businesses, was proud to cut the ribbon on the new Internship Portal.

YODA FOR PRESIDENT

Assemblymember Weprin relinquished his role as legislator for one day to a student who won his annual “Assembly Member for a Day” Essay Contest. Local students were invited to submit essays of no more than 500 words identifying a fictional character that would make a good President of the United States and explaining why the character would be a good choice.

Contest winner Daniel Goetz, a seventh grader from Our Lady of the Snows School in Floral Park, Queens, chose Yoda from the Star Wars book series. According to Daniel, Yoda’s years on the Jedi Council were good preparation for the Oval Office. To become Assemblymember for a day, Daniel visited Albany with his parents. His day included an interview with a Legislative Gazette reporter and a tour of the Capitol, where he met many state leaders.

Daniel Goetz steps into Assemblymember Mark S. Weprin’s role for the day, banging the gavel to convene a meeting of the New York State Assembly Committee on Small Business.

Assemblymember Mark S. Weprin and Winter Fitness Challenge winners on the field at Shea Stadium.

Nearly one hundred elementary and middle school students joined Assemblymember Mark Weprin at Shea Stadium after they were selected in a drawing from hundreds of students who completed his Fitness Challenge.

As he does every year, Weprin sponsored a Winter Fitness Challenge for local students. The goal of the program is to introduce creative incentives to promote physical fitness and a healthier lifestyle for students throughout New York State. Assemblymember Weprin, along with an organization called Nutrition and Fitness for a Healthy New York, works to encourage youngsters to participate in more physical activity, adhere to a sensible diet and develop an improved sense of wellness.

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR VISITS ALBANY

Philip Bialowitz was born in the small town of Izbica, Poland. He is one of only eight remaining survivors of the Nazi extermination camp, Sobibor, where an estimated 250,000 Jews, including most of his family, were murdered. It was there that, in October 1943, Mr. Bialowitz participated in a mass prisoner uprising that freed about half of the camp’s six hundred slave laborers. Subsequently, the Nazis discontinued all killing operations at the camp.

Since emigrating to the United States after liberation, Mr. Bialowitz has testified at numerous war crimes trials. He lectures frequently at synagogues and schools throughout North America and Europe. Assemblymember Weprin was honored to meet with Mr. Bialowitz in Albany and to introduce him in the Assembly Chamber. Mr. Bialowitz is a resident of Little Neck, New York.

Assemblymember Mark S. Weprin and Philip Bialowitz in the Assembly Chamber in Albany.

• Enable parents and guardians who experience loss of earnings due to the hospitalization of a child crime victim to be eligible for a crime victims award.

• Allow identity theft victims to seek assistance from the Consumer Protection Board’s Identity Theft Prevention and Mitigation Program and to obtain restitution equal to the value of the time they spent fixing the damage of identity theft.

• Permit unmarried victims of domestic abuse to seek orders of protection in family courts.

• Give state regional park police access to the sex offender registry so that they can monitor offenders.

• Expand the requirement that the Department of Correctional Services notify local law enforcement agencies about the release of an inmate from state prison.

• Make impersonation via internet or electronic communication a class A misdemeanor.

• Require diversity training of police.

• At workplaces, prohibit the use of Social Security Numbers on identification badges, identification cards, and time cards.

• Ban the use of skimmer devices, which can obtain personal identifying information from credit cards, when there is intent to use the device to commit identity theft.

• Require the state Office of Mental Health and state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to collect records for the purpose of responding to queries to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and to share the records with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information System. Federal legislation states that these individuals may not acquire or possess handguns or long-arms.

• Extend the period for retroactive requests under Jonathan’s Law, which helps the families of individuals with mental disabilities to get the information they need to ensure that their loved ones are being properly cared for.

• Broaden the definition of abuse and neglect of children living in licensed residential facilities, ensuring that violent behavior against children will result in referrals to law enforcement.

• Provide the right to a balanced and nutritious diet to individuals receiving mental hygiene services, and ban the withholding of food, drink or nourishment for the purpose of behavior modification or response conditioning.

• Allow gasoline retailers and distributors to purchase and sell unbranded motor fuel, giving consumers the option to purchase less expensive fuel.

• Reform the state’s Brownfield Cleanup Program.

• Encourage the construction of new homes and the renovation of existing homes to meet green building standards.

• Eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses in hospitals and other health care facilities.

• Provide a ninety-day pre-foreclosure notice to alert borrowers that they are in default or foreclosure and advise them that there may be help available

• Establish Mandatory Settlement Conferences to bring a borrower together with the party initiating the foreclosure proceeding to attempt to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

• Enact a subprime mortgage lending statute that identifies limitations and prohibited practices for subprime home loans.

• Require lenders to consider borrowers’ ability to repay the loan.

• Provide remedies to borrowers who have been subjected to violations.

• Set standards and limits for home loans by requiring brokers to act in the best interests of the borrower.

• Prohibit lenders or brokers from improperly influencing the outcome of a real estate appraisal.

• Require registration of all businesses servicing mortgage loans, requiring that the mortgage loan servicer who initiates a foreclosure is the owner and holder of the mortgage.

• Establish the crime of residential mortgage fraud and set penalties.

• Crack down on rescue scams by lenders who represent themselves as being able to save people when foreclosure is imminent.

• Require manufacturers of baby products such as cribs, car seats, high chairs, and playpens to include a product safety owner card at the time of sale.

• Require manufacturers and importers of juvenile products to notify consumers, distributors, retailers, the State Attorney General, and the Consumer Protection Board of any recalls or warnings.

• Mandate that children’s products have a label listing manufacturer, importer and lot or batch information (if applicable)

• Require the State Education Department to revoke the license or certification of anyone who works in a school and is convicted of offenses requiring registration with the State Sex Offender Registry.

• Mandate sex offender registry checks for employees and volunteers at children’s camps.

• Provide guidance to agencies on the development and maintenance of up-to-date information that people can access via the Freedom of Information Law.

• Require that state agencies post on the internet lists of records by subject matter.

• Allow the state Attorney General to bring action to recover funds and impose penalties on attorneys who improperly receive compensation or benefits from the public pension system.

• Increase the penalty for pension fraud from a misdemeanor to a felony.

• Prohibit lawyers from simultaneously being an employee and an independent contractor for a school district.

• Close double-dipping loopholes in the pension waiver process that let employees earn both salary and pension at the same time.

• Revoke the license or certification of any school administrator who is convicted of a crime involving fraud relating to theft of government funds.

• Prevent debt collectors from seizing Social Security and veterans benefits in bank accounts up to $2,500.

• Increase penalties for scam artists who victimize multiple elderly people.

• Mandate that the New York State Police develop educational materials for law enforcement related to elder abuse.

• Establish a veteran program consolidation council to promote efficiency, cost effectiveness, oversight, and outreach for veterans residing in New York.

• Direct the Division of Veterans’ Affairs to host a series of four or more seminars annually across New York State. These seminars would provide information and training focused on assisting veteran-owned businesses to obtain procurement contracts from New York State agencies, municipalities, and authorities.

• Authorize the Division of Veterans’ Affairs to study and evaluate the number of military personnel expected to return to New York and to report its findings.

• Set up mentoring programs for state agencies that engage in a significant amount of service or construction contracting. These mentoring programs will focus on providing training and other assistance to qualified veterans.