Latest news with #discoverylaws
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mammoth $254B NY state budget revealed, goes up for vote: ‘Albany at its cynical worst'
The bulk of the mammoth $254 billion state budget deal was unveiled Wednesday with some last minute self-serving quietly slipped into the batter before Albany lawmakers were set to finally vote on it. The spending plan documents — nicknamed 'The Big Ugly' in capital lingo — provide a last-minute, warts-and-all look at much-anticipated legislation focused on New York City's mental health crisis, recidivism problems and more. Gov. Kathy Hochul ran a victory lap Wednesday after a deal to revamp the state's discovery laws — a move to combat a slew of criminal cases that have been getting dismissed on technicalities. The tweaks caused a weeks-long impasse on the overall mammoth budget deal. New York Senate lawmakers debate budget bills during a legislative session in the Senate Chamber at the state Capitol Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Albany, NY. Hans Pennink 'I said all along I would hold up a $250 billion budget on this issue,' she said. Sources have hinted to The Post that the budget's final price tag will actually be more than the $254 billion hinted by Hochul. The discovery changes will prevent criminal cases from being thrown out over trivial mistakes and narrow how much evidence prosecutors must turn over to defense attorneys. Involuntary commitment standards – the rules by which severely mentally ill people can be forced into psychiatric care against their will – will be expanded and loosened under the agreement. Hochul and state lawmakers reached the deal after months of backroom talks prompted in part by violence in the subways, random attacks on the city's streets and Mayor Eric Adams using his bully pulpit to push for changes to involuntary commitment rules. Kathy Hochul, joined by Queens DA Melinda Katz, Bronx DA, Darcel Clark, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and Staten Island DA Michael McMahon announce changes to State discovery laws on May 7, 2025. James Messerschmidt The budget was due April 1, but it went far over that deadline — a delay that state Sen. Jim Skoufis (D-Orange) lambasted. 'I'm sick and tired of one individual – the Governor – superseding the will of up to 213 duly elected Senators and Assembly Members,' he said in a statement. 'The current operating procedure is nothing short of authoritarian.' Albany's single-party Democratic rule also let Hochul, state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) sign off on a slew of self-serving deals for their party faithful. The New York state Capitol is seen as lawmakers vote on budget bills Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Albany, N.Y. Hans Pennink for the NY Post The state budget package wraps in measures to help incumbents game New York's new public campaign financing system, allow lawmakers to keep collecting salaries from side jobs and assist Hochul in warding off a challenge from her estranged lieutenant governor. 'All in all, it's a generally bad Albany at its cynical worst, and we have nothing positive to say about this and how they've done this just underlines that these are self-serving changes Democratic incumbents,' John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, told The Post. The budget also includes a highly controversial measure pushed by Orthodox Jewish communities that would make it easier for Yeshivas to demonstrate compliance with educational standards that public schools need to meet. A man who attacked an MTA worker with a hammer in the 14th St. and 8th Ave L train station in Manhattan, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022 is taken into custody by police at the scene. Robert Mecea for NY Post The state Department of Education required non-public schools to demonstrate their curriculums are 'substantially equivalent' to those of public schools. A 2023 investigation by the city's education department found 18 Yeshivas weren't educating students on basic English and math. 'Despite how people try to characterize this, this is not the elimination of substantial currency,' Hochul told reporters Tuesday. The new plan will give the non-public schools several other different ways to prove substantial equivalency beyond those outlined by the state education department, which is opposed to the move. Additional reporting by Haley Brown
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hochul says lawmakers ‘very, very close' on deal to revamp NY discovery laws in budget breakthrough
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Let's make a whatever-you-call-it. Gov. Kathy Hochul acknowledged Wednesday that lawmakers had reached a breakthrough in negotiations to revamp the state's discovery laws — even as she insisted it didn't count as a 'deal.' The governor instead opted for wonky jargon, describing the end of a budget stalemate revealed the day before by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) as a 'conceptual agreement' different from a done deal. 'I think we're very, very close to being done and perhaps, today will be the day we say, 'Pens are down,'' Hochul said during a news conference. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that lawmakers are 'very, very close' on a deal for changing discovery laws. Robert Miller Hochul plans to meet with Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) Wednesday evening. A deal — or a deal by another name — likely will clear a major logjam to passing New York's massive $252 proposed budget, which has been held up for weeks by Hochul refusing to budge on her policy asks, especially changes to discovery Hochul stopped short of voicing support for the plan crafted by Albany Democrats and approved by all five New York City district attorneys. But rumors swirled around Albany after the deal was announced Tuesday that it was falling apart, prompting Heastie to clear the air. 'Everything is still fine conceptually. Staff is going back and forth on drafting,' Heastie told The Post. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie swatted down rumors that the deal was on the ropes. Zuma / While Hochul contended there's no deal over discovery, last year she unveiled the state budget deal by calling it the 'parameters of a conceptual agreement' — almost the exact same term Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez used to describe the state of play on discovery. Changing discovery laws was one of Hochul's big priorities in the budget talks with state lawmakers, along with making it easier to involuntarily commit mentally ill people — a pair of policy pitches that grew from public safety concerns in the Big Apple. The city's DAs, including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, argued that the state's 2019 discovery reforms led to a surge in criminal case dismissals based on often-trivial technicalities. Hochul backed their proposal to tweak the laws, narrowing the scope of evidence prosecutors have to turn over to defense attorneys and setting a 35-day time limit to challenge violations. Critics such as The Legal Aid Society, however, pushed lawmakers to stand firm against the changes — contending they'd give prosecutors too much power. They also argued the surge in dismissals is largely seen in New York City and stems from the NYPD failing to share evidence with prosecutors. Despite the pushback, Heastie said Tuesday that Dems had reached a 'framework' over discovery changes. The deal would: Require prosecutors to just turn over evidence 'relevant' to charges, narrowing it from evidence 'related' to the case, Clarify that judges should only dismiss cases in which prosecutors did not exercise 'due diligence,' Require defense attorneys to file discovery challenges within 35 days of prosecutors certifying to the court they've turned over evidence. Three of New York City's district attorneys — Manhattan's Alvin Bragg, Brooklyn's Eric Gonzalez and Staten Island's Michael McMahon — flanked Hochul during Wednesday's news conference. Robert Miller Three of New York City's district attorneys — Gonzalez, Bragg and Staten Island's Michael McMahon — flanked Hochul during her news conference, which was part of a tour pushing for the discovery changes. Gonzalez said the legislative teams from the DAs and Heastie's and Stewart-Cousin's offices were crafting the actual language for changes. 'Every word matters in a statute, because if a word is off or a standard is off, it changes the entire interpretation,' he said. 'We want to make sure that the language is clear that judges will have discretion to independently and individually review each case, and that a judge would not feel that they have to dismiss a case because a document is missing.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hochul, NYC DAs take victory lap on discovery laws that led to slew of criminal dismissals
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways It's a brand new discovery. Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City's five district attorneys ran a victory lap Wednesday on a revamp to the state's discovery laws included in a sprawling budget bill. The changes will prevent criminal cases from being thrown out over trivial mistakes and narrow how much evidence prosecutors must turn over to defense attorneys. Gov. Kathy Hochul, along with five district attorneys across New York City, took a victory lap Wednesday for revamping the state's discovery laws while also including a $250 billion budget bill. James Messerschmidt Hochul, speaking alongside the district attorneys at Manhattan's state courthouse, had refused to budge on the issue — which caused a weeks-long impasse on the overall mammoth budget deal. 'I said all along I would hold up a $250 billion budget on this issue,' she said. 'And here's why: behind all the legal jargon that some may not quite comprehend, there's real peoples' lives at stake here.' 'You can't have violent criminals who hurt other human beings be able to walk free because of evidence that was irrelevant might have been excluded.' The changes made will ensure that criminal cases won't be thrown out just purely over trivial mistakes, while also narrowing how much evidence prosecutors can turn over to defense attorneys. James Messerschmidt Big Apple prosecutors groused for years that 2019 reforms to the state's evidence-sharing laws — which were passed because many New Yorkers languished in jail awaiting trial on often-minor criminal charges — had led to a surge in case dismissals. The reforms' onerous requirements forced prosecutors to turn over massive amounts of evidence, they complained. Failing to turn over even inconsequential evidence led to accused criminals — including a man who allegedly beat his girlfriend and ripped off her clothes in front of his friends — walking free on technicalities, prosecutors argued. Hochul initially refused to speak on the issue, which caused a weeks-long impasse before the budget deal got passed. James Messerschmidt The deal struck by Hochul and state lawmakers would, according to the governor's office: Require courts to consider the prosecutor's efforts as a whole and whether missing evidence prejudiced the defense — an effort to prevent cases from being thrown out over insignificant mistakes; Narrow the scope of what evidence prosecutors must turn over so not to include frivolous materials that have no real weight on the case Clarify that cases should only be dismissed by judges if prosecutors did not exercise 'due diligence' Require defense attorneys to challenge a prosecutor's certification that they've completed discovery effort within 35 days 'In broad strokes what the bill does is requires us to turn over materials as quickly and as efficiently as we can,' said Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon. 'If the defense has objections, they have to make those objections within 35 days,' McMahon said.
