NY lawmakers weigh bail law changes as they near budget deal

ALBANY — Those charged with repeat offenses and others charged with gun crimes could be subject to bail restrictions, under a bill being discussed by New York political leaders as they near a deal on a state budget.

If an agreement is reached, the Assembly and Senate could back a significant chunk of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s public safety initiative in an election year when she’s getting criticism from challengers on the left and right about crime and bail.

It won’t quiet rivals, but a bail deal would be a boost for Hochul’s election campaign, an analyst said.

A deal also would represent an internal victory for Democratic moderates -- who are feeling election-year pressure on crime -- over progressives.

“I don’t see any reason that it won’t be in” the budget, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said of an agreement to amend the controversial 2019 bail law. which eliminated bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.

The State Legislature adjourned Thursday, conceding it won’t technically meet the midnight Thursday deadline to adopt an on-time state budget.

But legislators and officials said talks were progressing and budget bills could be voted on as early as Sunday night or Monday.

Legislators said Monday is their practical deadline — missing it would force emergency spending measures to maintain the state payroll.

“The comptroller has indicated that as long as we pass by Monday, it has no practical consequence for state government or state workers,” Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said Thursday.

Besides criminal justice, Democrats — who control both legislative houses — said they are close to agreements on accelerating the licensing of downstate casinos, suspending state gasoline taxes, legalizing alcohol-to-go sales and helping fund a new stadium for the NFL's Buffalo Bills.

Republicans criticized Hochul and legislative leaders for failing to have a spending plan in place for the beginning of New York’s 2022-23 fiscal year.

“The people of New York expect and deserve an on-time budget. It’s a simple, straightforward requirement of state government,” said Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Pulaski). “Unfortunately, Governor Hochul and her Democrat colleagues in the legislature have proven they are unable to meet that very basic expectation, and as a result the multibillion-dollar spending plan that impacts every facet of operations in New York is in limbo.”

The most crucial issue at this point is Hochul’s 10-point public safety plan, which was the subject of separate lengthy, closed-door meetings of Senate Democrats and Assembly Democrats late Wednesday.

Assembly Democrats, who have been more liberal on criminal justice issues, adjourned just shy of 10 p.m. The conference was divided, but one politician said it was about “55-45” in favor of approving certain parts of Hochul’s plan.

The legislator credited Assemb. Jeffrion Aubry (D-East Elmhurst) and Assemb. Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), respected liberal leaders with a combined 80 years’ experience in the Assembly, with pushing for a deal.

Legislators and officials said the parts of Hochul’s plan that appeared to have sufficient support include measures to lower the number of guns possessed to constitute a bail-eligible crime.

Another would allow judges to set bail for a defendant who has been charged with multiple offenses within 18 months, even if none of the individual charges are serious enough to have warranted bail restrictions.

They also are looking at allowing judges to determine if district attorneys are in “substantial” compliance with discovery requirements for trials rather than strict compliance, which mandates all evidence to be turned over to defense attorneys within 20 days of arraignment.

“What we want to do is make changes to the legislation we made. What we are not looking to do is go backward,” Gianaris told Newsday.

Supporters of the 2019 bail law disagreed. The Legal Aid Society, which represents indigent clients, said the changes will result in many people, who have been accused but not convicted, sitting in jail because they can’t make bail.

“This dangerous and bad policy will fail to make communities safer and will condemn our clients to languish in death traps like Rikers Island,” Legal Aid said in a statement.

Getting a deal on bail would be a win for Hochul for now, an analyst said.

“If she deals with it now, it breaks the fever that’s been around the bail law,” said Bruce Gyory, a former adviser to two Democratic governors. But he warned a bigger issue for Hochul — or whomever wins the Democratic primary in June — will be if crime continues to rise into the fall.