ALBANY — A day after blaming judges for New York’s rising crime rate, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday ruled out any serious discussion of changes to the state’s bail laws until January at the earliest.
The ordinance comes despite continued calls for action from Mayor Eric Adams, a fellow Democrat, as well as small business owners and her Republican challenger amid rampant crime, often by repeat offenders.
“I’m willing to review everything, but let’s see if the system can start functioning the way we intended,” Hochul told reporters at a news conference in Albany.
“The Legislature will meet again next January, and until then we will be able to assess the real impact of our changes,” she added.
That timeline leaves the current laws in place ahead of the Nov. 8 election, pitting Hochul against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, who has made tightening the state’s criminal justice system a key plank of his candidacy.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said a change to New York’s current bail law is off the table until she is up for re-election in 2023. Ron Adar/SOPA Images/Sipa USA via AP
Hochul also urged critics to remain patient following the passage of slight adjustments to the bail law, which she previously said were “nice” and which were included in the state budget passed last April.
The situation has even prompted Democrats like Mayor Adams to call for a special session of the state Legislature, whose regularly scheduled 2022 session ends in June. But she rejected those calls for action.
Lorenzo McLucas faces Manhattan Criminal Court after being arrested for shoplifting for the 230th time. Gabriela Bass
“There should be a special hearing called today to give judges the power for many more crimes to weigh the dangerousness, the risk of flight, the seriousness of the crime and the past criminal record,” Zeldin said in a statement to The Post on Thursday. echoing the plea made by Adams.
Serious crimes such as murders and shootings are up 40% in the past year, according to the NYPD, with some high-profile cases involving alleged repeat offenders, such as the 10 “worst of the worst” repeat offenders, accounting for nearly 500 arrests since the new restrictions on – probation came into effect in 2020.
“When asked about revising the far-left, pro-criminal cashless bail law, Hochul says there is no data to support such action, and when confronted with the data, she still balks and refuses to act. She could not be more wrong,” Zeldin said in the statement.
The GOP standard-bearer is hardly the only notable voter urging Hochul to support legislative action on bail laws months after Albany Democrats made bail eligible for additional crimes while loosening some rules on how judges can leave recidivists in prison.
Adams, who endorsed Hochul for a full term in office, on Wednesday highlighted statistics showing that more than 80 percent of people charged with carrying a gun in New York in the past year were released after their arrests.
Harold Gooding has been arrested a total of 101 times, with 88 coming after bail reform came into force.facebook
“Judges have tools that they don’t use, but they need more tools,” he told reporters at a news conference when asked about Hochul’s bias toward the umpires.
“This conversation is about that small number of dangerous people who are repeat offenders who have decided that ‘we can do whatever we want in this city and nothing will happen to us,'” Adams added.
Such arguments have not convinced Hochul — whose strongest support is among liberal-leaning New York voters, according to a recent poll — to back calls to convene lawmakers to tackle bail laws.
“How much longer will the governor and the legislature wait? We need a special session to repeal their disastrous bail laws and restore public safety in our state NOW,” state Senate Republican Minority Leader Robert Orth tweeted Thursday after Hochul said an emergency session is forbidden.
Members of the state Senate and Assembly aren’t scheduled to return to Albany until next year, but they could reconvene if Hochul and legislative leaders call them back.
That happened earlier this summer when Albany Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both houses, struck a deal with Hochul to tighten the state’s concealed carry laws after a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Mayor Adams and Hochul’s Republican opponent in the upcoming election have expressed a desire to change the law. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Hochul said Thursday that the current bail laws could prove their worth with more time, especially in conjunction with other initiatives aimed at reducing crime, such as the ongoing anti-gun efforts overseen by state police that have confiscated 795 illegal guns this year.
“It’s not just this over that. That will never be my strategy,” Hochul said, noting the rise in crime in other areas of the country.
She also insisted that even if she wants to change bail laws in the short term, her hands are tied by state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Hastie — both of whom support the current laws.
“You bring back the special session when the Legislature is willing and an agreement is reached on certain changes. Otherwise, they knock, they knock. OK?. This is the reality. I have to deal with the realities here,” she told The Post on Thursday.
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