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Gov. Hochul, surrounded by prosecutors, celebrates NY bail law changes
By
Jon Campbell
Published May 3, 2023
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By
Jon Campbell
Published May 3, 2023
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Gov. Kathy Hochul stood shoulder to shoulder with New York City prosecutors Wednesday to celebrate reining in the state’s controversial 2019 cash bail reforms and boosting funding for gun-violence prevention, signing the measures into law 12 hours after lawmakers approved them as part of the state budget.
Hochul, a Democrat, was joined by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and district attorneys from four of the five boroughs — as well as Tony Jordan, a Republican who heads the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York — at the bill-signing ceremony in Inwood.
It marks the second consecutive year Hochul held out in budget negotiations with legislative leaders for changes to the 2019 reforms, which prevented judges from holding defendants on bail in most nonviolent felony and misdemeanor cases.
Under the latest changes, judges will have more discretion to set bail in violent cases by no longer being required to impose the “least restrictive” means at arraignment.
The governor painted the measure as a way to give judges clarity and make New Yorkers feel safer. Last year, she won a tight election in November where public safety took center stage.
Meanwhile the mayor, also a Democrat, has repeatedly pushed for changes to the bail reforms, claiming they have helped lead to a small number of people committing a disproportionately large portion of crimes.
"This budget is a budget that clearly will make our city and our communities safer," Adams said at the bill-signing event. "Thank you. Kudos to you, governor."
But many of their fellow Democrats in the state Legislature see it differently, with some opposing the changes for making it easier to hold defendants on bail before they’re convicted of a crime. Others painted them as minor tweaks meant to clarify what the law already said.
“It is my firm belief that every single New Yorker deserves to feel safe and to be safe in their communities — whether it's the local bodega owner worried about shoplifters, the mother who worries about her kids walking home from school, a young woman traveling late at night on the subway or a community that overall just feels under siege from the day after day specter of gun violence,” Hochul said at the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood.
The bail-law changes come after Hochul warded off a closer-than-expected challenge last year from Republican Lee Zeldin — then a congressmember from Long Island — in last year’s election, winning by just 6 points despite Democrats having a 2-to-1 enrollment advantage over the GOP.
The bulk of Zeldin’s campaign focused on rising crime rates in the state’s big cities in 2020 and 2021, with the bail reform measures taking much of the political fire. Democrats countered that the crime spikes were part of a national, pandemic-influenced trend, but Zeldin was able to use the issue to help gain footing, particularly on Long Island, where he defeated Hochul.
A smattering of Democrats in the Legislature voted against the bail-law changes, including Brooklyn Assemblymember Latrice Walker, who helped lead the push to reform the bail process in 2019.
Walker, who at one point led a hunger strike against the measures, hinted during the debate that she would sue in an attempt to overturn the recent bail changes.
Public defenders also opposed the changes, issuing a joint statement Wednesday calling them “unconscionable.”
“This move erodes the presumption of innocence, and it will balloon jail populations in dangerous and deadly facilities throughout New York,” according to a joint statement from six defender groups, including the Legal Aid Society and Brooklyn Defender Services.
Several Democratic district attorneys, including Manhattan's Alvin Bragg, Queens’ Melinda Katz, the Bronx’s Darcel Clark and Brooklyn’s Eric Gonzalez, stood behind Hochul as she signed the key budget bill into law. At one point late in the budget talks, the district attorneys had also been pushing for changes to the state’s laws regarding evidence discovery — before dropping that push amid disagreements over the bill language lawmakers considered as well as criticism from public defenders.
Along with the bail-law changes, Hochul also touted the state budget’s $120 million boost in funding for gun violence prevention programs, pushing the total to $347 million, according to the governor’s office.
That includes $84 million for youth employment programs, and $36 million for the Gun Involved Violence Elimination, or GIVE, initiative — a law-enforcement program meant to reduce gun violence.
“As government leaders, we had to stand up and say no more, no more,” Hochul said. “We owe it to our neighbors, the children, the business leaders, to do everything we can to make our communities safer.”
Tagged
new york state
new york city
public safety
Kathy Hochul
Politics
eric adams
Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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