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State and Local Government Law

Brooklyn Law School

2018

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Law

Single Subject Rules And Civil Rights: Using Legislative-Process Restrictions To Facially Challenge Constitutionally Suspect Laws, Annie Melton Oct 2018

Single Subject Rules And Civil Rights: Using Legislative-Process Restrictions To Facially Challenge Constitutionally Suspect Laws, Annie Melton

Journal of Law and Policy

This Note argues that the single subject rule, a procedural restriction, can be used to facially challenge certain insidious laws. By giving courts an opening to review a law in its most elemental form—a deliberated-over means of adequately implementing a new, or remedying an existing, policy—the single subject rule tests it for characteristics like clarity, practicality, and predictability. The rule is rarely litigated in many states, but doing so draws attention to a fundamental philosophy of the legislative process, which is especially compelling in light of the ideological battles that are dominating statehouses across the country and giving rise to …


Google, Charlottesville, And The Need To Protect Private Employees’ Political Speech, Chloe M. Gordils Oct 2018

Google, Charlottesville, And The Need To Protect Private Employees’ Political Speech, Chloe M. Gordils

Brooklyn Law Review

At a time when the freedom of speech is increasingly under attack, the question becomes: what protections are available to employees of private companies who wish to engage in political expression while off the clock? Although public employees are in many ways protected by the First Amendment from government intrusion into their political speech, private employees in many states are left largely unprotected. This note examines the current statutory protections offered to protect private employees from being fired or retaliated against based on their political opinions, and argues that the inconsistency and unpredictability of state laws call for a uniform …


Competing With Noncompetes: Increasing Restrictions On The Use Of Employment Noncompetition Agreements In New York, Michael A. E. Neville Oct 2018

Competing With Noncompetes: Increasing Restrictions On The Use Of Employment Noncompetition Agreements In New York, Michael A. E. Neville

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The New York City Council and the former New York State Attorney General recently proposed legislation restricting the use of noncompetition agreements by employers with low-wage employees. While this proposed legislation demonstrates a step following other progressive states that have already restricted the use of noncompetition agreements, recent federal litigation has revealed the loopholes that New York employers may unfairly utilize, such as garden leave provisions, if restrictions are not placed on both employers of low-wage and high-wage employees. This Note recommends that pending legislation be passed only after a thorough revision that focuses on both low-wage and high-wage employees …


Freelance Isn’T Free: The High Cost Of New York City’S Freelance Isn’T Free Act On Hiring Parties, Caitlin M. Baranowski Jun 2018

Freelance Isn’T Free: The High Cost Of New York City’S Freelance Isn’T Free Act On Hiring Parties, Caitlin M. Baranowski

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Recently, the New York City Council enacted the Freelance Isn’t Free Act (FIFA) to protect freelancers from non-payment. Among FIFA’s protections is the requirement that hiring parties provide a written contract to freelancers for any work exceeding $800 over a 120-day period. As the nation’s first legislation ensuring freelancers’ rights, FIFA marks a major turning point in the development of protections for the gig economy’s growing independent workforce. While its purpose is laudable and necessary, this Note argues that FIFA is currently too ambiguous. To resolve FIFA’s ambiguity, this Note recommends, at the very least, amending FIFA to include: 1) …


Looking Out For The Little Guy: Protecting Child Informants And Witnesses, Sarah Glasser May 2018

Looking Out For The Little Guy: Protecting Child Informants And Witnesses, Sarah Glasser

Journal of Law and Policy

Too often, young people in the United States who become involved in the criminal justice system as informants and witnesses are not afforded the protections they need and deserve, and risk being murdered for providing critical information in the pursuit of an arrest or conviction. The immediate adoption of state legislation to protect children who serve as informants or are compelled to testify as witnesses in criminal cases is imperative to avoid the loss of young lives. Such legislation should be compelled via restrictions on state access to federal funds for witness protection, law enforcement, and judicial programs until appropriate …