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-controversial portion of the budget to finance state debt.

Lawmakers are scheduled to recess beginning April 10 for about two weeks for Passover and Easter. Legislators stop getting paid after April 1.

A spokesperson for Hochul said she was unshaken by the spending standoff.

“Governor Hochul continues to stand firm on her key priorities as she negotiates in good faith with the Senate and Assembly to pass a budget that makes New York safer and more affordable,” the spokesperson told The Post.

Lefties in the state legislature have been leading the pushback against Hochul’s discovery reforms with backing from the Kalief’s Law Coalition of groups such as Legal Aid, Citizen Action and the groups representing defense attorneys and public defenders.

Both Heastie and Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) agree with Hochul’s position that the statute needs to change in order to stop serious cases from getting arbitrarily and wrongfully tossed.

Stewart-Cousins agreed her chambers’ qualms with the law are restricted to small parts of language, but defended the motivation behind enacting the current discovery statutes, which Democrats passed alongside changes to bail laws under then Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019.

“I don’t think there’s a philosophical difference. It has always been the concern for our conference and I’m sure the Assembly, and I’m sure the governor to do those things;” Stewart-Cousins said.

“Make sure that people get their day in court, that the evidence is properly presented, that cases that should be going forward actually go forward and that people who have done the wrong thing are convicted, and victims feel that they’ve had a fair shot,” she outlined.

Heastie has complained that Hochul’s main policy pitches – discovery reform, restricting kids phone use in school, making it easier to commit severely mentally ill people and restrictions on mask wearing – have prevented talks about spending to move forward.

Hochul has pitched a massive $252 billion budget – which would see a 11% increase in operational spending according to recent analysis from the Citizens Budget Commission.

Other thorny issues are still brewing, including Hochul’s pitches to change the foundation aid formula for school funding and how to raise taxes to fund the MTA’s $68 billion five-year capital plan proposal.