NEW YORK -- Judges in New York will have more discretion to jail people awaiting trial for alleged crimes, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday night, a policy change fiercely resisted by some of her fellow Democrats.
The governor held a state Capitol news conference to announce that a "conceptual agreement" had been reached on a $229 billion budget with the state Legislature, a deal that still needs to be approved by lawmakers. The budget includes policy proposals ranging from a minimum wage hike to allowing more charter schools in New York City.
But negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders ran well past an April 1 deadline, in large part because Hochul insisted on changes to the state's bail laws.
The issue has been a flashpoint between liberal Democrats, who say requiring people to pay cash to get out of jail rigs the system against poor people, and elected officials who cast it as a public safety issue.
New York approved sweeping changes in 2019 aimed at keeping defendants who can't afford bail from being disproportionately jailed. But those changes have been tweaked twice before amid criticism that judges were being deprived of a tool they could use to hold people likely to commit new crimes.
The new agreement would remove a requirement that judges choose the "least restrictive" means to ensure defendants return to court. Judges have complained the standard "tied their hands," Hochul said.
"It gives judges discretion they need to hold violent...
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