Albany Legislation

   The first item came in from Senator Jeff Klein, and the second from Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda. It should be noted that even though the State Senate or Assembly will pass legislation, it must be passed by both legislative bodies and then signed by the governor to become effective. 

Senate Passes Klein Bill Toughening Child Pornography Laws 

The New York State Senate passed legislation to impose harsher penalties against child pornographers, including increased prison time by way of consecutive sentences, as well as changing punishments from felonies to first degree crimes.  The bill also extends protections to all children under the age of 18. Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein is the prime sponsor of the legislation.

The legislation (S2266), would amend current law with the following measures:

1) Ensure that criminals face longer periods in prison when charged with multiple crimes by imposing consecutive sentences; 

2) Provide additional protection to minors by increasing the age benchmark of a child from 16 to 18 and;

3) Increase punishments from felonies to first degree crimes for:

• Acts committed against children under 12 years old;
• Use of a child in sexual performance and;
• Promoting obscene sexual performances by a child.

Senator Jeff Klein said, “Those who seek to profit from the sexual exploitation of children must feel the full weight of our laws. Right now, New York’s penalties against child pornographers  simply aren’t enough. By imposing powerful penalties such as these, we’ll be doing much more to keep these dangerous predators off our streets and out of our communities.  My legislation gives criminals what they deserve and most importantly keeps them where they belong—securely behind bars.”

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NYS Assembly takes action to keep people from losing their homes

I'm pleased to announce that my colleagues and I in the New York State Assembly, have recently passed two bills that seek to protect homeowners from unscrupulous business practices in the mortgage industry. In light of what's occurred in the last few years concerning minorities being targeted for questionable financing of loans by this industry, the implementation of such legislative initiatives are critical to protecting us from the insidious seizures of our assets.

One bill (A.5582), would require lenders to utilize the appropriate legal mechanisms to validate their intent before any actions can take place to foreclose on a property. The other bill (A.7395), would render it illegal for any employee acting on behalf of a mortgage company to perpetrate any sort of administrative fraud in an effort to foreclose on a residential property.

Given minorities being disproportionately  affected by foreclosures, these legislative enactments will ensure that we will have additional recourse to prevent the properties that we've worked so hard to acquire, to be taken from us without due process.

Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda-87th District
1973 Westchester Ave 
Phone: (718) 931-2620

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