N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 1299-eee: Transit adjudication bureau

§ 1299-eee. Transit adjudication bureau. 1. Establishment. There is

hereby created in the authority a transit adjudication bureau. The head

of such bureau shall be the director, who shall be appointed by the

chairman of the authority. The director may delegate the powers and

duties conferred upon the director by this section to such qualified

officers and employees of the bureau as he may designate.

2. Hearing officers. The chairman of the authority shall appoint

hearing officers who shall preside at hearings for the adjudication of

charges of transit infractions, as hereinafter defined, and who, as

provided below, may be designated to serve on the appeals board of the

bureau. Every hearing officer shall have been admitted to the practice

of law in this state for a period of at least five years, and shall be

compensated for his services on a per diem basis determined by the

bureau.

3. Jurisdiction. The bureau shall have, with respect to acts or

incidents in or on the transit facilities of the authority,

non-exclusive jurisdiction over violations of the rules which may from

time to time be established by the authority. Matters within the

jurisdiction of the bureau shall be known for purposes of this section

as transit infractions. Nothing herein shall be construed to divest

jurisdiction from any court now having jurisdiction over any criminal

charge relating to any act committed in a transit facility, or to impair

the ability of a police officer to conduct a lawful search of a person

in a transit facility. The criminal court within which jurisdiction the

transit authority shall operate transit facilities shall continue to

have jurisdiction over any criminal charge brought for violation of the

rules of the authority, as well as jurisdiction relating to any act

which may constitute a crime or an offense under any law of the state of

New York or any municipality or political subdivision thereof and which

may also constitute a violation of such rules.

4. General powers. The bureau shall have the following functions,

powers and duties:

a. To accept pleas (whether made in person or by mail) to, and to hear

and determine, charges of transit infractions within its jurisdiction;

b. To impose civil penalties not to exceed a total of two hundred

fifty dollars for any transit infraction within its jurisdiction, in

accordance with a penalty schedule established by the authority;

c. In its sole discretion, to suspend or forgive penalties or any

portion of penalties imposed on the condition that the respondent

voluntarily agrees to perform and actually does satisfactorily perform

unpaid services on transit facilities as assigned by the authority, such

as, without limitation, cleaning of rolling stock;

d. To adopt, amend and rescind rules and regulations not inconsistent

with any applicable provision of law to carry out the purposes of this

section, including but not limited to rules and regulations prescribing

the internal procedures and organization of the bureau, the manner and

time of entering pleas, the conduct of hearings, and the amount and

manner of payment of penalties;

e. To enter judgments and enforce them, without court proceedings, in

the same manner as the enforcement of money judgments in civil actions,

as provided below;

f. To compile and maintain complete and accurate records relating to

all charges and dispositions, which records shall be deemed exempt from

disclosure under the freedom of information law as records compiled for

law enforcement purposes;

g. To apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for enforcement of

any decision or order issued by such bureau or of any subpoena issued by

a hearing officer as provided in paragraph d of subdivision seven of

this section;

h. To enter into contracts with other government agencies, with

private organizations, or with individuals to undertake on its behalf

such functions as data processing, debt collections, mailing, and

general administration, as the director deems appropriate, except that

the conduct by hearing officers of hearings and of appeals may not be

performed by outside contractors; and

i. To accept payment of penalties and to remit same to the authority.

5. Notices of violation. The bureau shall prepare and distribute

notices of violation in blank to the Niagara Frontier transportation

authority security officer, ticket inspector, and any other person

empowered by law, rule and regulation to serve such notices. The form

and wording of the notice of violation shall be prescribed by the

director, and it may be the same as any other notice of violation or

summons form already in use if said form meets the requirements hereof.

The notice of violation may include provisions to record information

which will facilitate the identification and location of respondents,

including but not limited to name, address, telephone numbers, date of

birth, social security number if otherwise permitted by law, place of

employment or school, and name and address of parents or guardian if a

minor. Notices of violation shall be served by delivering the notice

within the state to the person to be served. A copy of each notice of

violation served hereunder shall be filed and retained by said bureau,

and shall be deemed a record kept in the ordinary course of business,

and, if sworn to or affirmed, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts

contained herein. Said notice of violation shall contain information

advising the person charged of the manner and the time within which such

person may either admit or deny the offense charged in the notice. Such

notice of violation shall also contain a warning to advise the person

charged that failure to plead in the manner and within the time stated

in the notice may result in a default decision and order being entered

against such person.

6. Defaults. Where a respondent has failed to plead within the time

allowed by the rules of said bureau or has failed to appear on a

designated hearing date or a subsequent date following an adjournment,

such failure to plead or appear shall be deemed, for all purposes, to be

an admission of liability and shall be grounds for rendering a default

decision and order imposing a penalty in such amount as may be

prescribed by the authority.

7. Hearings. a. Whenever a person charged with a transit infraction

returnable to the bureau enters a plea of not guilty, the bureau shall

advise such person personally, or by registered or certified mail, of

the date on which he or she must appear to answer the charge at a

hearing. The form and content of such notice of hearing shall be

prescribed by the director, and shall contain a warning to advise the

person so pleading that failure to appear on the date designated, or any

subsequent adjourned date, shall be deemed for all purposes, an

admission of liability, and that a default judgment may be rendered and

penalty may be prescribed.

b. Every hearing for the adjudication of a charge of a transit

infraction hereunder shall be held before a hearing officer in

accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the bureau.

c. The hearing officer shall not be bound by the rules of evidence in

the conduct of the hearing, except rules relating to privileged

communications.

d. The hearing officer when the defendant refuses to stipulate to the

contents of the notice of violation, unless the hearing officer

determines that the notice of violation should be dismissed, shall

require the person who served the petition to attend the hearing and may

issue subpoenas to compel the appearance of that person or of other

persons to give testimony, and issue subpoenas duces tecum to compel the

production for examination or introduction into evidence of any book,

paper or other thing relevant to the charges.

e. In the case of a refusal to obey a subpoena, the bureau may make

application to the Supreme Court pursuant to section twenty-three

hundred eight of the civil practice law and rules, for an order

requiring such appearance, testimony or production of evidence.

f. The bureau shall make and maintain a sound recording or other

record of every hearing.

g. After due consideration of the evidence and arguments, the hearing

officer shall determine whether the charges have been established. No

charge may be established except upon clear and convincing evidence.

Where the charges have not been established, an order dismissing the

charges shall be entered. Where a determination is made that a charge

has been established or if an answer admitting the charge has been

received, the hearing officer shall set a penalty in accordance with the

penalty schedule established by the authority, and an appropriate order

shall be entered in the records of the bureau. The respondent shall be

given notice of such entry in person or by mail. This order shall

constitute the final determination of the hearing officer, and for

purposes of review it shall be deemed to incorporate any intermediate

determinations made by said officer in the course of the proceeding.

When no appeal is filed this order shall be the final order of the

bureau.

8. Administrative and judicial review. a. There shall be appeals

boards within the bureau which shall consist of three or more hearing

officers, as the director shall determine. The director shall select a

chairman for each appeals board from the members so appointed. No

hearing officer may sit on an appeals board considering an appeal from a

determination made by said hearing officer.

b. A party aggrieved by a final determination of a hearing officer may

obtain a review thereof by serving upon the bureau within thirty days of

the sending of the notice of entry of such order a notice of appeal

setting forth the reasons why the determination should be reversed or

modified. There shall be no interlocutory appeals.

c. An appeal from a final determination of a hearing officer shall be

submitted to the appeals board, which shall have power to review the

facts and the law, but shall not consider any evidence which was not

presented to the hearing officer, and shall have power to reverse or

modify any judgment appealed from for error of fact or law.

d. Appeals shall be made without the appearance of the appellant and

appellant's attorney unless the presence of either or both are requested

by the appellant, appellant's attorney, or the appeals board. Within

twenty days after a request for an appearance, made by the appellant,

appellant's attorney or the board, the bureau shall advise the appellant

or appellant's attorney, either personally or by registered or certified

mail, of the date on which he or she shall appear. The appellant shall

be notified in writing of the decision of the appeals board.

e. A party may request and obtain a record of the proceedings

resulting in a determination for which an appeal is sought, but the

party shall pay to the bureau the cost of providing such record. When a

record is timely requested for the purpose of preparing an appeal, the

bureau shall not thereafter cause the appeal to be heard or submitted

less than ten days after the delivery or mailing of the record to

appellant or appellant's attorney.

f. The service of a notice of appeal shall not stay the enforcement of

an order appealed from unless the appellant shall have posted a bond in

the amount of penalties imposed in the order appealed from at the time

of, or before, the service of such notice.

g. No determination of a hearing officer which is appealable under the

provisions of this section shall be reviewed in any court unless an

appeal has been filed and determined in accordance with this

subdivision. When an appeal has been filed, the order of the appeals

board shall be the final order of the bureau. Judicial review may be

sought pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and

rules.

9. Enforcement of judgments. a. The bureau shall have the power to

enforce its final decisions and orders imposing civil penalties for

violations of laws, rules and regulations enforced by it as if they were

money judgments, without court proceedings, in the manner described

herein.

b. Any final order of the bureau imposing a civil penalty, whether the

adjudication was had by hearing or upon default or otherwise, shall

constitute a judgment rendered by the bureau which may be entered in the

county court of Erie or Niagara county or any other place provided for

the entry of civil judgments within the state, provided that no

proceeding for judicial review shall be pending and the time for

initiation of such proceeding shall have expired, and may be enforced

without court proceedings in the same manner as the enforcement of money

judgments entered in civil actions. Any final order shall be a bar to

any criminal proceeding for conduct upon which the order was based.

c. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, before a judgment based

upon a default may be so entered the bureau must have attempted to

notify the respondent by first class mail, in such form as the bureau

may direct: (i) of the default decision and order and the penalty

imposed; (ii) that a judgment will be entered in the county court of

Erie or Niagara county or any other place provided for the entry of

civil judgments within the state; and (iii) the entry of such judgments

may be avoided by requesting a stay of default for good cause shown and

either requesting a hearing or entering a plea pursuant to the rules of

the bureau within thirty days of the mailing of such notice.

10. Funds. All penalties collected pursuant to the provisions of this

section shall be paid to the authority.