New York State will blow past its April 1 deadline to finalize a state budget, as Gov. Kathy Hochul pushes lawmakers to get behind her proposals to change evidence-sharing laws in criminal cases and expand involuntary hospitalizations of people with serious mental illness. Both measures are priorities of the city’s business community but have run into opposition from left-leaning legislators and criminal justice advocates.
Lawmakers on Tuesday passed a so-called “extender” to keep the lights on and payroll flowing to state employees through Thursday, as they continue negotiating a spending plan expected to exceed $250 billion. As is often the case in Albany, the hangups have little to do with dollars-and-cents budget items — instead, Hochul is using her leverage during the budget process to cram in several policy priorities.
One such priority is changing the laws that govern evidence-sharing between prosecutors and defense lawyers — a process known as discovery — to roll back reforms that have forced some cases to be dropped based on timing technicalities. A formidable coalition of local prosecutors and business groups have mobilized behind Hochul’s proposal, which would soften elements of the state’s 2019 criminal justice reforms. But opponents say the changes would turn back the clock to an era where defendants languished in jail while they waited for prosecutors to turn over evidence to their lawyers.
Blake Washington, Hochul’s budget director, told reporters on Monday that discovery reform is a proposal that the governor “can’t compromise” on. But state Senate and Assembly leaders have resisted Hochul’s plan, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said last week that the two sides remain at an impasse over the legal language up for revision.
Hoping to break the impasse, Mayor Eric Adams — who strongly supports Hochul’s proposals — assembled his new cohort of deputy mayors at City Hall on Tuesday, alongside Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who has met with state lawmakers and urged them to support the changes. Tisch argued that the state’s 2019 reforms “made a revolving door out of our criminal justice system,” allowing repeat offenders to more easily walk free.
Prosecutors say the 2019 reforms have led judges to dismiss legitimate cases based on delays in turning over evidence. But critics of the proposed rollbacks, such as the Legal Aid Society, counter that the new changes would be drastic and “restore a system allowing police and prosecutors to withhold evidence until the eve of trial” — preventing people accused of crimes from mounting adequate defenses.
“That’s not how I see the reforms,” countered Tisch on Tuesday, saying the city was mainly hoping to give judges more discretion about whether a piece of evidence under dispute has any real bearing on a given case.
Involuntary commitment is another sticking point. Hochul wants to change the legal standard for when a person has become a danger to themselves, which she says would allow non-clinicians, such as police, to determine whether a person must be hospitalized for treatment against their will. Her push has the backing of nurse practitioners and business groups such as the Association for a Better New York — but legislative leaders rejected the governor’s initial proposal, instead arguing for increased funding for voluntary mental health treatment.
Mayor Adams advanced his own separate plan to step up involuntary removals, but expressed support for Hochul’s proposal.
Other issues still stalling talks include Hochul’s late-stage demand to ban face coverings at public protests, and to forbid cell phone use in public schools — although lawmakers in recent days have indicated they are nearing a deal on a “bell-to-bell” ban that would bar children from using phones for the entire school day.
Late budgets are nothing new in Albany, and the state can blow its deadline without any major negative repercussions. Last year’s budget was approved nearly three weeks late on April 20, while the previous year’s did not pass until May 2.
