March 31, 2025
The NY Post reports today that the big reason for the state budget being late, is the stalled negotiations about changing the courtroom discovery laws from 2019.
We reached out to some upstate lawmakers and asked for their thoughts about this.
From State Senator Tom O’Mara: “While I agree that changes for fairness to the accused were warranted, the 2019 discovery law changes went too far the other way, just as their no bail changes did, in this instance imposing far too tight a timeline on the state’s district attorneys to provide discovery. Failure to meet that timeline results in dismissal of charges. This has proven to be unworkable. As a result, thousands upon thousands of criminal cases have been dismissed in some prosecutors’ offices because they simply don’t have the staff or resources to exercise a proper process carefully and thoroughly in such a short time period. The impact on crime victims has been unimaginable. The consequences for overall public safety and security have been equally destructive. The governor’s proposed changes don’t go nearly far enough, but the changes are badly needed and should be accepted. Yet the Legislature’s Democrat majorities, in their recently enacted one-house budget resolutions, rejected the governor’s discovery law changes. Whether to gain leverage in budget negotiations, or whether legislative Democrats simply prefer the status quo, remains to be seen.”
From Senator Borrello: “We are watching the collapse of our criminal justice system in real time, and it’s being driven by reckless policies like the 2019 discovery changes. Prosecutors are being forced to drop cases, victims are being retraumatized, and dangerous offenders are being set free on technicalities. The Governor’s proposal is a modest but important step toward restoring balance—but, unfortunately, it’s no surprise that the Democratic majorities in the Legislature are resisting even these commonsense improvements. They would rather appease radical activists than protect law-abiding New Yorkers. Their refusal to act is a betrayal of crime victims and a green light to criminals. Enough is enough. The safety of our communities must come before politics,” said Senator George Borrello.
From Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski: “So we are way, way behind, even further behind than I thought we were going to be, two or three weeks ago. This is just another example of one-party control in Albany, leading to a broken system.”
Click here for full story from the NY Post.
From Assemblyman Phil Palmesano: “New York’s discovery laws, just like bail reform and raise the age, do nothing but make the people of the state less safe in favor of coddling criminals. The state budget must include the proposed discovery changes to make the justice system fairer and ensure violent criminals are not walking free due to a technicality.”
