About Tal Rappleyea
As a municipal lawyer, Tal Rappleyea gets asked this question all the time: What is a municipality?
A municipality is actually just a technical term for a county or city. Although municipalities are mainly responsible for creating their laws, they hire municipal lawyers that are responsible for enforcing those laws. Tal Rappleyea covers the following municipal law issues to reflect the needs of area residents:
- Education policies, which governs the safety and standards of education in public schools, accommodating students with disabilities, and job security for teachers.
- Property taxes, which outlines how taxed income from residents can be used to benefit the community.
- Police power, which oversees how police officers monitor resident behavior.
- Zoning, which determines how land in the municipality is used.
Some municipal lawyers work internally for one municipality, while others practice law individually for multiple municipalities. Tal practices law individually in his own private practice and serves several counties in the Albany metro area in New York state.
Tal Rappleyea was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in January 1989. This chapter of the bar association is actually the largest voluntary state bar organization in the nation with a membership of more than 74,000 lawyers. Tal is proud to be a member, considering former presidents Grover Cleveland and Chester A. Arthur were members of the New York State chapter as well.
With nearly three decades of experience and a Juris Doctorate from Hamline State University, Tal Rappleyea has explored municipal law in several roles as an attorney, ranging from positions as Attorney for the Town and Attorney for the Village of several municipalities. Currently, Tal is a solo practitioner in his own Law Offices of Tal G. Rappleyea in Valatie, New York and lists municipal law as one of his main concentrations.
Tal is a supporter the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM), which is an organization that trains municipal officials and operates as a general support group for municipal officials in each state. He is also very active in his community, as he is a member of the Capital District Trial Lawyers Association and holds a position in the County Bar Association of New York State.
Although Tal Rappleyea maintains an active lifestyle by volunteering in his community and maintaining memberships in his field of practice, he still makes time for one of his pastimes, golf, by on the range.
- “Deal of the Year” Award from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)
- Named one of the three new inductees to the Ethics Committee of REBNY
- Named to the Executive Board of New York Residential Specialists (NYRS).
Local Municipalities Look to Go Green(er) By Curbing Plastic Bag Usage
Sustainability and environmental protection are ongoing topics of conversation and debate in every level of government. One of the current hot topics for municipalities in the New York and New Jersey area is the continued usage of one-use plastic (and paper) bags in grocery stores.
While many of these bags tout small sayings encouraging users to recycle them after use, the reality is that those bags contribute to a $12.5 million bill that the city of New York pays to transport waste to landfills. The City Council in New York City recently voted on a bill that proposed charging a 5 cents fee for each one-use bag (paper or plastic). The final votes tally of 28 to 20 landed in favor of the nickel charge, and it will be going into effect on October 1st.
The same issue is being addressed across the river in New Jersey, where Assemblywoman Grace Spencer, is currently pushing a bill to have the same 5 cents charge applied on single use bags by the summer of 2017. Spencer has been quoted saying,
“It is important that we find more ways to better address pollution,” Spencer said. “As a country, we must begin to recognize that part of the destruction of our planet comes from how we dispose of materials we use in our everyday life.”
The Northeast is not the only area of the country that’s looking to stop the frivolous usage of single-use shopping bags. This has been a pressing issue for some time now, with major cities on the West coast looking to make changes. Currently, the state of California is the only state in the country that has a statewide ban on plastic bags, but every county in the state of Hawaii has imposed its own ban on the bags.
There are some people who feel like the fee isn’t enough for a true long term impact. The director of the New Jersey Sierra club, Jeff Tittel, believes that New Jersey’s bill needs to include an eventual cut off date for the usage of plastic bags, as the fee will not be enough of a deterrent. Others feel like it’s a punishment to the consumer. NJ Assemblyman Scott Rumana believes that there must be a better way to address the excess plastic use, outside of charging consumers more.
This will be an ongoing issue for individual municipalities to address as the movement towards more sustainable practices continues.