§ 1299-EEE — Transit adjudication bureau

§ 1299-eee. Transit adjudication bureau. 1. Establishment. There is\nhereby created in the authority a transit adjudication bureau. The head\nof such bureau shall be the director, who shall be appointed by the\nchairman of the authority. The director may delegate the powers and\nduties conferred upon the director by this section to such qualified\nofficers and employees of the bureau as he may designate.\n 2. Hearing officers. The chairman of the authority shall appoint\nhearing officers who shall preside at hearings for the adjudication of\ncharges of transit infractions, as hereinafter defined, and who, as\nprovided below, may be designated to serve on the appeals board of the\nbureau. Every hearing officer shall have been admitted to the practice\nof law in this state for a period of at least five years, and shall be\ncompensated for his services on a per diem basis determined by the\nbureau.\n 3. Jurisdiction. The bureau shall have, with respect to acts or\nincidents in or on the transit facilities of the authority,\nnon-exclusive jurisdiction over violations of the rules which may from\ntime to time be established by the authority. Matters within the\njurisdiction of the bureau shall be known for purposes of this section\nas transit infractions. Nothing herein shall be construed to divest\njurisdiction from any court now having jurisdiction over any criminal\ncharge relating to any act committed in a transit facility, or to impair\nthe ability of a police officer to conduct a lawful search of a person\nin a transit facility. The criminal court within which jurisdiction the\ntransit authority shall operate transit facilities shall continue to\nhave jurisdiction over any criminal charge brought for violation of the\nrules of the authority, as well as jurisdiction relating to any act\nwhich may constitute a crime or an offense under any law of the state of\nNew York or any municipality or political subdivision thereof and which\nmay also constitute a violation of such rules.\n 4. General powers. The bureau shall have the following functions,\npowers and duties:\n a. To accept pleas (whether made in person or by mail) to, and to hear\nand determine, charges of transit infractions within its jurisdiction;\n b. To impose civil penalties not to exceed a total of two hundred\nfifty dollars for any transit infraction within its jurisdiction, in\naccordance with a penalty schedule established by the authority;\n c. In its sole discretion, to suspend or forgive penalties or any\nportion of penalties imposed on the condition that the respondent\nvoluntarily agrees to perform and actually does satisfactorily perform\nunpaid services on transit facilities as assigned by the authority, such\nas, without limitation, cleaning of rolling stock;\n d. To adopt, amend and rescind rules and regulations not inconsistent\nwith any applicable provision of law to carry out the purposes of this\nsection, including but not limited to rules and regulations prescribing\nthe internal procedures and organization of the bureau, the manner and\ntime of entering pleas, the conduct of hearings, and the amount and\nmanner of payment of penalties;\n e. To enter judgments and enforce them, without court proceedings, in\nthe same manner as the enforcement of money judgments in civil actions,\nas provided below;\n f. To compile and maintain complete and accurate records relating to\nall charges and dispositions, which records shall be deemed exempt from\ndisclosure under the freedom of information law as records compiled for\nlaw enforcement purposes;\n g. To apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for enforcement of\nany decision or order issued by such bureau or of any subpoena issued by\na hearing officer as provided in paragraph d of subdivision seven of\nthis section;\n h. To enter into contracts with other government agencies, with\nprivate organizations, or with individuals to undertake on its behalf\nsuch functions as data processing, debt collections, mailing, and\ngeneral administration, as the director deems appropriate, except that\nthe conduct by hearing officers of hearings and of appeals may not be\nperformed by outside contractors; and\n i. To accept payment of penalties and to remit same to the authority.\n 5. Notices of violation. The bureau shall prepare and distribute\nnotices of violation in blank to the Niagara Frontier transportation\nauthority security officer, ticket inspector, and any other person\nempowered by law, rule and regulation to serve such notices. The form\nand wording of the notice of violation shall be prescribed by the\ndirector, and it may be the same as any other notice of violation or\nsummons form already in use if said form meets the requirements hereof.\nThe notice of violation may include provisions to record information\nwhich will facilitate the identification and location of respondents,\nincluding but not limited to name, address, telephone numbers, date of\nbirth, social security number if otherwise permitted by law, place of\nemployment or school, and name and address of parents or guardian if a\nminor. Notices of violation shall be served by delivering the notice\nwithin the state to the person to be served. A copy of each notice of\nviolation served hereunder shall be filed and retained by said bureau,\nand shall be deemed a record kept in the ordinary course of business,\nand, if sworn to or affirmed, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts\ncontained herein. Said notice of violation shall contain information\nadvising the person charged of the manner and the time within which such\nperson may either admit or deny the offense charged in the notice. Such\nnotice of violation shall also contain a warning to advise the person\ncharged that failure to plead in the manner and within the time stated\nin the notice may result in a default decision and order being entered\nagainst such person.\n 6. Defaults. Where a respondent has failed to plead within the time\nallowed by the rules of said bureau or has failed to appear on a\ndesignated hearing date or a subsequent date following an adjournment,\nsuch failure to plead or appear shall be deemed, for all purposes, to be\nan admission of liability and shall be grounds for rendering a default\ndecision and order imposing a penalty in such amount as may be\nprescribed by the authority.\n 7. Hearings. a. Whenever a person charged with a transit infraction\nreturnable to the bureau enters a plea of not guilty, the bureau shall\nadvise such person personally, or by registered or certified mail, of\nthe date on which he or she must appear to answer the charge at a\nhearing. The form and content of such notice of hearing shall be\nprescribed by the director, and shall contain a warning to advise the\nperson so pleading that failure to appear on the date designated, or any\nsubsequent adjourned date, shall be deemed for all purposes, an\nadmission of liability, and that a default judgment may be rendered and\npenalty may be prescribed.\n b. Every hearing for the adjudication of a charge of a transit\ninfraction hereunder shall be held before a hearing officer in\naccordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the bureau.\n c. The hearing officer shall not be bound by the rules of evidence in\nthe conduct of the hearing, except rules relating to privileged\ncommunications.\n d. The hearing officer when the defendant refuses to stipulate to the\ncontents of the notice of violation, unless the hearing officer\ndetermines that the notice of violation should be dismissed, shall\nrequire the person who served the petition to attend the hearing and may\nissue subpoenas to compel the appearance of that person or of other\npersons to give testimony, and issue subpoenas duces tecum to compel the\nproduction for examination or introduction into evidence of any book,\npaper or other thing relevant to the charges.\n e. In the case of a refusal to obey a subpoena, the bureau may make\napplication to the Supreme Court pursuant to section twenty-three\nhundred eight of the civil practice law and rules, for an order\nrequiring such appearance, testimony or production of evidence.\n f. The bureau shall make and maintain a sound recording or other\nrecord of every hearing.\n g. After due consideration of the evidence and arguments, the hearing\nofficer shall determine whether the charges have been established. No\ncharge may be established except upon clear and convincing evidence.\nWhere the charges have not been established, an order dismissing the\ncharges shall be entered. Where a determination is made that a charge\nhas been established or if an answer admitting the charge has been\nreceived, the hearing officer shall set a penalty in accordance with the\npenalty schedule established by the authority, and an appropriate order\nshall be entered in the records of the bureau. The respondent shall be\ngiven notice of such entry in person or by mail. This order shall\nconstitute the final determination of the hearing officer, and for\npurposes of review it shall be deemed to incorporate any intermediate\ndeterminations made by said officer in the course of the proceeding.\nWhen no appeal is filed this order shall be the final order of the\nbureau.\n 8. Administrative and judicial review. a. There shall be appeals\nboards within the bureau which shall consist of three or more hearing\nofficers, as the director shall determine. The director shall select a\nchairman for each appeals board from the members so appointed. No\nhearing officer may sit on an appeals board considering an appeal from a\ndetermination made by said hearing officer.\n b. A party aggrieved by a final determination of a hearing officer may\nobtain a review thereof by serving upon the bureau within thirty days of\nthe sending of the notice of entry of such order a notice of appeal\nsetting forth the reasons why the determination should be reversed or\nmodified. There shall be no interlocutory appeals.\n c. An appeal from a final determination of a hearing officer shall be\nsubmitted to the appeals board, which shall have power to review the\nfacts and the law, but shall not consider any evidence which was not\npresented to the hearing officer, and shall have power to reverse or\nmodify any judgment appealed from for error of fact or law.\n d. Appeals shall be made without the appearance of the appellant and\nappellant's attorney unless the presence of either or both are requested\nby the appellant, appellant's attorney, or the appeals board. Within\ntwenty days after a request for an appearance, made by the appellant,\nappellant's attorney or the board, the bureau shall advise the appellant\nor appellant's attorney, either personally or by registered or certified\nmail, of the date on which he or she shall appear. The appellant shall\nbe notified in writing of the decision of the appeals board.\n e. A party may request and obtain a record of the proceedings\nresulting in a determination for which an appeal is sought, but the\nparty shall pay to the bureau the cost of providing such record. When a\nrecord is timely requested for the purpose of preparing an appeal, the\nbureau shall not thereafter cause the appeal to be heard or submitted\nless than ten days after the delivery or mailing of the record to\nappellant or appellant's attorney.\n f. The service of a notice of appeal shall not stay the enforcement of\nan order appealed from unless the appellant shall have posted a bond in\nthe amount of penalties imposed in the order appealed from at the time\nof, or before, the service of such notice.\n g. No determination of a hearing officer which is appealable under the\nprovisions of this section shall be reviewed in any court unless an\nappeal has been filed and determined in accordance with this\nsubdivision. When an appeal has been filed, the order of the appeals\nboard shall be the final order of the bureau. Judicial review may be\nsought pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and\nrules.\n 9. Enforcement of judgments. a. The bureau shall have the power to\nenforce its final decisions and orders imposing civil penalties for\nviolations of laws, rules and regulations enforced by it as if they were\nmoney judgments, without court proceedings, in the manner described\nherein.\n b. Any final order of the bureau imposing a civil penalty, whether the\nadjudication was had by hearing or upon default or otherwise, shall\nconstitute a judgment rendered by the bureau which may be entered in the\ncounty court of Erie or Niagara county or any other place provided for\nthe entry of civil judgments within the state, provided that no\nproceeding for judicial review shall be pending and the time for\ninitiation of such proceeding shall have expired, and may be enforced\nwithout court proceedings in the same manner as the enforcement of money\njudgments entered in civil actions. Any final order shall be a bar to\nany criminal proceeding for conduct upon which the order was based.\n c. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, before a judgment based\nupon a default may be so entered the bureau must have attempted to\nnotify the respondent by first class mail, in such form as the bureau\nmay direct: (i) of the default decision and order and the penalty\nimposed; (ii) that a judgment will be entered in the county court of\nErie or Niagara county or any other place provided for the entry of\ncivil judgments within the state; and (iii) the entry of such judgments\nmay be avoided by requesting a stay of default for good cause shown and\neither requesting a hearing or entering a plea pursuant to the rules of\nthe bureau within thirty days of the mailing of such notice.\n 10. Funds. All penalties collected pursuant to the provisions of this\nsection shall be paid to the authority.\n