Hochul, NY lawmakers to blow past budget deadline in standstill over discovery law reforms

Gov.Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers will blow by a budget deadline Tuesday as negotiations hit an impasse over New York’s divisive discovery laws – despite growing calls for reforms.Hochul has proposed changes to the laws that set strict rules and deadlines about evidence sharing during criminal trials but her fellow Democrats in the state Assembly have pushed back against changes to the law.Heastie said Thursday that his conference is opposed to Hochul’s changes to the discovery laws, as written, and that he’s asking Hochul to tweak the language.“I’m not going to bring up discovery with members anymore,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) told reporters on Thursday.

“We’ve talked about it conceptually, but I need to start to talking to them with language.”Heastie emphasized that the differences are over the exact wording over a part of the proposal that would narrow the scope of evidence prosecutors must turn over.Hochul’s proposals, which are backed by all five New York City District Attorneys, are meant to stop a surge of cases in the Big Apple that have been getting tossed on technicalities in violation of the statute.The current laws were passed in 2019, forcing prosecutors to quickly hand over a mass of evidence to the defense or have the case dismissed.Convictions on domestic violence cases in the state have plummeted from 31% to 6% since the law was approved, according to state figures.

Without consensus on tweaking the laws, budget talks have grinded to a halt.“Things are kind of at a standstill,” Heastie said of ongoing budget negotiations, blaming the governor’s policy issues for dominating talks over the massive spending plan which is statutorily due by April 1.“Nothing’s moving at this point,” he added.Lawmakers are off Monday for the Eid holiday and will most likely pass legislation to extend current spending for a few days, which would cover upcoming state payroll.Last week, the legislature passed a non-contr...