Gov. Hochul: NYS lawmakers 'on verge' of a deal on key issue holding up state budget
The New York State Capitol building in Albany is seen on Feb. 25, 2024. Gov. Hochul said Wednesday that lawmakers were "on the verge" of reaching a deal on "discovery," the sharing of evidence in criminal trials, which has been holding up a larger agreement on a state budget. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that lawmakers were "on the verge" of reaching a deal on "discovery," the sharing of evidence in criminal trials that has been holding up a larger agreement on a state budget.
"I believe we’re on the verge of a very important deal," Hochul told reporters. Using a football analogy, she said lawmakers were "on the 5-yard line" but not in the end zone yet.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) — who took a lead role in negotiating directly with New York City’s five district attorneys — said: "I think it’s actually on the 1-inch line" with just minor legal language details to finalize.
Clearing up the issue would have a domino effect on settling other outstanding ones — a cellphone ban in schools, financial aid to school districts, for example — and setting course for the State Legislature to vote on budget deal this month.
Lawmakers were supposed to approve a state budget by April 1, the beginning of New York’s fiscal year. Hochul held out, as she has done in previous years, to get some largely non-budgetary policy issues, such as discovery, into the budget agreement.
In January, Hochul proposed a $252 billion state budget, including a 4.7% increase in school aid, a middle-class tax cut and tax rebate check of as much as $500 to families. The final agreement is expected to spend more overall and include a more generous hike in school aid.
Hochul, who has been pressured by the political right on crime and criminal justice issues, made "discovery" changes a priority.
New York State overhauled its discovery law in 2019, making prosecutors share evidence sooner and, practically speaking, tying their discovery obligations to speedy trial guarantees — a trial within 90 days for most misdemeanors and six months for many felonies. Previously, prosecutors could wait till the eve of a trial to share evidence.
Prosecutors complained the new law resulted in too many dismissals — driven largely by New York City, which accounts for more than 92% of case dismissals statewide.
In simple terms, the compromise will give judges more express discretion to weigh whether failure to turn over a piece of evidence actually causes harm to a person’s defense — something prosecutors wanted. But it rejects prosecutors’ call for decoupling discovery rules and speedy trial guarantees, Heastie told Newsday.
Rank-and-file Democratic legislators didn’t want to give all the leverage back to prosecutors, Heastie and numerous other legislators had said over the weeks of negotiations.
Heastie told Newsday: "I think we all landed in a pretty good place."
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, at the news conference with Hochul, said: "Judges are going to have individual ability to look at a case" to determine if the failure to share a piece of evidence is harmful or just tangential to a case.
Hochul said final "edits" are being hashed out — but nothing is final until that is accomplished.
"I think we're very, very close to being done, and perhaps today will be the day we say" so, Hochul said.
ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that lawmakers were "on the verge" of reaching a deal on "discovery," the sharing of evidence in criminal trials that has been holding up a larger agreement on a state budget.
"I believe we’re on the verge of a very important deal," Hochul told reporters. Using a football analogy, she said lawmakers were "on the 5-yard line" but not in the end zone yet.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) — who took a lead role in negotiating directly with New York City’s five district attorneys — said: "I think it’s actually on the 1-inch line" with just minor legal language details to finalize.
Clearing up the issue would have a domino effect on settling other outstanding ones — a cellphone ban in schools, financial aid to school districts, for example — and setting course for the State Legislature to vote on budget deal this month.
Lawmakers were supposed to approve a state budget by April 1, the beginning of New York’s fiscal year. Hochul held out, as she has done in previous years, to get some largely non-budgetary policy issues, such as discovery, into the budget agreement.
In January, Hochul proposed a $252 billion state budget, including a 4.7% increase in school aid, a middle-class tax cut and tax rebate check of as much as $500 to families. The final agreement is expected to spend more overall and include a more generous hike in school aid.
Hochul, who has been pressured by the political right on crime and criminal justice issues, made "discovery" changes a priority.
New York State overhauled its discovery law in 2019, making prosecutors share evidence sooner and, practically speaking, tying their discovery obligations to speedy trial guarantees — a trial within 90 days for most misdemeanors and six months for many felonies. Previously, prosecutors could wait till the eve of a trial to share evidence.
Prosecutors complained the new law resulted in too many dismissals — driven largely by New York City, which accounts for more than 92% of case dismissals statewide.
In simple terms, the compromise will give judges more express discretion to weigh whether failure to turn over a piece of evidence actually causes harm to a person’s defense — something prosecutors wanted. But it rejects prosecutors’ call for decoupling discovery rules and speedy trial guarantees, Heastie told Newsday.
Rank-and-file Democratic legislators didn’t want to give all the leverage back to prosecutors, Heastie and numerous other legislators had said over the weeks of negotiations.
Heastie told Newsday: "I think we all landed in a pretty good place."
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, at the news conference with Hochul, said: "Judges are going to have individual ability to look at a case" to determine if the failure to share a piece of evidence is harmful or just tangential to a case.
Hochul said final "edits" are being hashed out — but nothing is final until that is accomplished.
"I think we're very, very close to being done, and perhaps today will be the day we say" so, Hochul said.
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