Until the last moment, the state president tries to push changes in the controversial judicial reforms.
Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP / Getty Images
New York lawmakers approved another extension Monday to continue the complicated discussions to pass the state budget bill for fiscal year 2024, a process that should have concluded on April 1.
There are still major disagreements over Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals for technical amendments to the controversial Bail Reform Act.
However, sources from the Legislature assure that despite the pressure from a group of assemblymen from the progressive Democratic wing, radicalized with the idea that said reform, approved in 2019, is “untouchable”, The governor has made certain progress in the last few hours as a “point of honor”to yield in other chapters of the budget proposal.
Hochul assured during an Easter celebration that although it will take more time to consolidate a final budget, is “sure” that progress is being made.
“I will make sure we have bail laws, give judges the discretion they should have. It is simply to clarify confusion about the current regulations”, Hochul said.
According to local media, a “last minute” political agreement has been reached between the leaders of the State Assembly in Albany and the president, which would put an end to the “least restrictive” measure used by judges to set bail.
Hochul advances
This change, if it actually comes to fruition, would allow judges to set bail in many more cases, particularly violent ones, as a way to combat recidivism.
“More moderate and centrist sectors of the Democratic steamroller have given in in exchange for advancing on other issues. The arguments of the governor, regarding to the advance of criminality, have been hardly debatable. There are figures. There are numbers. And he also has on this point, like no other, the support of the Republican bloc. In the end, the bill could favor the governor,” commented to The newspaper Albany sources.
The spending and investment plan $227 billion from New York For the president, the main focus is addressing the problem of public security, the exacerbation of which has been associated with the implementation of changes in the way how criminal justice is administered in the state.
Since January 2020, cash bonds have been eliminated for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.
In summary, it was achieved that judges consider the ability to pay of a person in cases where a bond is established. The goal was to reduce prior incarceration to the trial that disproportionately affects the Black and Latino communities.
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