Gov. Hochul to pitch changes to bail reform law as part of sweeping public safety plan
Gov. Kathy Hochul is now proposing a sweeping public safety package including changes that will make more crimes bail eligible in New York after weeks of being accused of ignoring the city and state’s crime wave, The Post has learned.
The 10-point plan, obtained by The Post, includes a measure that would give judges more discretion to order bail and detain criminal defendants for a host of additional crimes based on their criminal history, including repeat offenders.
“For offenses that are not currently subject to arrest, police will have the ability (though not the requirement) to deny a Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT) and arrest an individual who has previously received a DAT within eighteen months. All second offenses within a certain period of time will be bail-eligible,” reads a copy of Hochul’s memo, which she’ll negotiate to include in her $216 billion budget proposal due April 1.
“The statute will set forth specific criteria on which judges will base their determinations, including criminal history and history of firearm use/possession.”
Crimes against subway riders and transit employees will also be subject to bail, per the document. More gun crimes would also be eligible for bail.
The focus on subway crime comes just weeks after Frank Abrokwa, the Bronx poop attacker with a long rap sheet including 22 prior arrests and dozens of other sealed arrests since 1999, attacked a woman with his own feces.
Another proposal would make it easier to prosecute gun trafficking, modeled after legislation already introduced by state Sen. Kevin Thomas (D-Nassau) and state Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-Nassau). Right now, someone must be in possession of 10 guns for them to be charged with a class B felony.
Five guns must be involved for someone to be charged with a class C felony – but the plan would reduce these thresholds to three and two guns within a one-year period.
Another change pertains to the “Raise the Age” statute — which increased the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 — and includes granting judges the option to keep a case in criminal court if a person is in possession of a gun. As of now, prosecutors must show a firearm was displayed in order to do so.
“We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of teens under 18 carrying guns, with juvenile gun arrests up from 174 in 2018 to 439 in 2021. More than a quarter of these had a prior gun arrest,” reads the document.
Many of the recommendations also appear similar to amendments sought by Mayor Eric Adams, who has pitched changes to the state’s bail and “Raise the Age” laws as ranking among his top Albany priorities.
“The governor’s proposal includes significant steps, which I have advocated for, that would make New York safer, while not undoing important reforms. It is a big step forward that these proposals are being discussed at the highest level in Albany, and I am grateful to the governor and the legislature for their partnership,” Adams cheered the proposal in a statement on Thursday.
Adams has said he supports giving judges the ability to consider the “dangerousness” of defendants before deciding the terms of their release, if at all.
If passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Hochul, the proposal would amend the controversial 2019 bail reform law passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature, which limited a judge’s discretion to consider whether an individual should have to post bail.
The bail law was approved to prevent people from being detained solely because they didn’t have enough money to post bail, but problems immediately surfaced after law enforcement complained the statute is flawed.
Sources said Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, a Harlem Democrat and former state senator, has been taking the lead on helping craft the package, as he’s Hochul’s point person when it comes to the administration’s response to gun violence.
Assemblywoman Inez Dickens (D-Harlem) also told The Post she brought up the need for changes to Benjamin in the wake of the poop attack, and he agreed.
The 10-point plan includes:
- For the most serious felonies, allow bail determinations to be informed by factors including criminal history and history of firearm use and possession. Judges will be allowed to set bail not based solely on the “least restrictive” conditions deemed necessary to ensure a return to court. The statute will set forth specific criteria on which judges will base their determinations, including criminal history and history of firearm use/possession.
- Make repeat offenses subject to arrest and bail-eligible
- Make certain gun-related offenses, hate crimes offenses, and subway crime offenses subject to arrest and not [desk appearance tickets]. Certain offenses which presently are subject to desk appearance tickets will be made only eligible for arrest.
- Make certain gun-related offenses bail-eligible.
- Make it easier to prosecute gun trafficking.
- Targeted reforms of the discovery statute.
- Targeted reforms of the “Raise the Age” statute.
- Increase funding for pretrial, diversion, and employment programs: Hochul’s budget already includes $83.4 million for pretrial services, but the governor would increase that amount — although the memo did not say by how much. It would also distribute the nearly $500 million appropriated for “Raise the Age” implementation that has not yet been spent.
- Expand involuntary commitment and Kendra’s Law.
- Increase funding for mental health treatment.
Addressing the bail law could minimize the political headache felt by Hochul over the last several months as she runs for election to a first full term as governor.
But it’s unclear how many of Hochul’s proposals will get through the Democratic-run legislature during the final weeks of budget negotiations.
Fellow Democrats in her own party are divided on tinkering with the bail law and her plan will likely be met with staunch resistance from lefty progressives who argue defendants’ rights to remain free pending trial shouldn’t be curtailed.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) are firm opponents of any amendments to cashless bail or the “Raise the Age” statute despite growing support for fixes from Democratic lawmakers.
Stewart-Cousins and Heastie had no immediate comment.
The Post obtained the memo just days after Stewart-Cousins claimed that Hochul was opposed to any changes to the bail law.
Both pols also told Adams in no uncertain terms last month that they wouldn’t support any tweaks whatsoever.
Moderate Democratic lawmakers who support tightening up the bail law welcomed Hochul’s 10-point plan as a game changer.
“This is the kind of leadership we need from the governor,” said state Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island).
Savino said Hochul’s plan incorporated her proposals on teenagers apprehended for gun crimes and making it easier to involuntary transfer and provided services to mentally ill individuals wandering the streets.
The senator said Stewart-Cousins is “not an autocrat” and and will listen to all viewpoints, but acknowledged there will be some opposition — the question remains how much.
“Some senators will support all of Hochul’s plan, some will support of the recommendations and some might not support any of them,” Savino said
Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz (D-Bronx), who chairs the codes committee that oversees criminal justice legation and is a close ally of Heastie, said Hochul’s plan will get a fair hearing.
“People are rightly concerned about the increase in crime. This is what I hear people talking about,” said Dinowitz, whose district includes Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Cortlandt Park, Marble Hill, Norwood and Wakefield.
“But whatever we do, [should be] be based on facts and data, not emotions and headlines,” he said.
But Democrats, many of who skew to the far left, are clearly divided on the matter.
“Any proposed rollbacks to bail reform and discovery reform are completely unacceptable. We must reject efforts to undo progress. We must move away from wealth-based detention, not expand it. And it is especially cynical for the Governor to propose doing this via the state budget,” tweeted state Sen. Julia Salazar, who opposes changes to the reforms made.
The inaction by Hochul and the legislature has been a rallying cry for Republicans, as well as one of Hochul’s Democratic opponents in the governor’s race — Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi.
Bail was on the ballot last November, as Republicans crushed their Democratic opponents on Long Island in both Suffolk and Nassau County’s district attorney’s races as well as sinking ex-Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s re-election bid.
The GOP painted its Democratic opponents as soft on crime thanks to New York’s bail laws.
“Kathy Hochul is the definition of a craven, phony politician. She said she wouldn’t budge off the bail law after two NYPD officers were murdered and innocent New Yorkers were being pushed in front of subways, attacked on the street with hatchets and followed into their homes and stabbed to death, but her disgraced former partner Andrew Cuomo pipes up and all of a sudden she has seen the light,” New York State Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy slammed the goveror in a statement, arguing now that Andrew Cuomo is trying to revive his political career amid speculation that he could launch a challenge to Hochul — she’s become more friendly to making changes to the bail law.
“Her brazen opportunism is stomach-churning. Both she and Andrew Cuomo need to be reminded of the fact that their administration advocated for and signed the abomination that is bail ‘reform’ into law. They have blood on their hands and no amount of 11th-hour political maneuvering will change that.”
If crime is not addressed, the topic could similarly pose a massive issue as she campaigns for a full term ahead of the November statewide election to remain governor.
Asked about the bail tightening plan, Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said, “As the Governor has said consistently since becoming Governor, she does not negotiate in public. We look forward to continuing to work with the legislature to deliver a budget that serves New Yorkers.”
A recent poll released by Siena College also showed two-thirds of New York voters wanted the no-cash bail law tightened and said the law should be amended to take into account a defendant’s prior criminal record.
