In response to the Governor’s statements that changes to the controversial bail/discovery reform law should be made in the state budget, Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara and Senator Jim Tedisco – a bi-partisan duo in the state legislature and the most outspoken voices on bail reform – are again teaming-up to call on the Governor to not make the same mistake twice – changes to the bail reform law must be publicly announced, discussed, debated and voted and not in the state budget.

“If the Governor is serious about addressing the big problems caused by bail reform then he shouldn’t repeat the same mistake he made last year – putting bail reform into in the state budget where it doesn’t belong,” said Assemblyman Santabarbara. “The truth is, he’s already waited far too long to take responsibility and do something about the growing concerns over public safety in New York State,” Santabarbara said. “It’s time for the Governor to take things a little more seriously. This is the top issue in the state and it should be taken up in a bi-partisan bill, not in the state budget. He can start with (S.6861/A.9047) which I introduced months ago!”

“When the Governor says it’s easier to do ‘hard’ legislation in the budget, what he’s really saying is he can sneak through bad legislation that is opposed by much of the state by stifling debate and keeping the public in the dark. As Bob Woodward has said, ‘in darkness democracy dies.’ New York State is now in this dilemma of having a revolving door of danger and disaster because of the secretive process of putting bail reform in the budget in the middle of the night and not properly and publicly vetting the legislation with all stakeholders and through the media to the public,” said Senator Jim Tedisco.

“The legislature, public and media should demand total transparency with any new so-called bail reform. It should be presented publicly and then discussed, debated and voted on its own merits separately from the budget on the Floor of the Senate and Assembly and not passed in the middle of the night on March 31st as part of one of the final budget bills so legislators can hide behind the budget process,” said Senator Jim Tedisco.

Senator Tedisco and Assemblyman Santabarbara urge the Governor to call for the passage of sponsoring legislation (S.6861/A.9047) which allows the courts to make an appropriate risk assessment based on a defendant’s prior felony conviction(s), a failure to make a court appearance, or a subsequent arrest while awaiting a preliminary hearing or trial. The new law which took effect on January 1st, provides no such discretion to judges.