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Budget agreement stalled as lawmakers go home for the weekend

Apr 01, 2022 1:30 am

Bernadette Hogan and Sam Raskin are reporting for the New York Post that state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul will miss their midnight budget deadline as legislators prepared March 31, to leave the capital for a long weekend. Democratic legislative leaders are in the process of working out the details of a compromise with Hochul on her proposed public safety plan, but they will not reach an agreement by midnight on April 1. Bail reform laws remain a major sticking point in negotiations. State Senate Democrats were briefed on the negotiations tied to the issue of whether to grant judges more discretion to consider the risk of potential harm to others when releasing suspects pre-trial. “They’re trying to figure out a way to allow judges to consider harm or risk without triggering the ‘dangerousness’ debate,” said one Democrat briefed on the discussions. Hochul has proposed maintaining the “‘least restrictive means of ensuring a return to court’ standard for bail and release determinations, but allowing judges to consider the risk of harm as a factor when making that determination,” according to a summary of where negotiations currently stand, obtained by The Post. The Senate has countered with a plan that would allow judges to consider whether the alleged crime involved harm to an individual or group of people. Hochul has also proposed adding hate crimes to the list of bail-eligible offenses, but state Senate leaders have opposed that change. The deadline for the state budget is April 1; the $216 billion final proposal must be signed into law by 4 p.m. April 4, “to avoid any issues with upcoming payrolls” of state workers for the new fiscal year, according to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office. Read the full story in the New York Post. .

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