Hochul’s Plan to Ease Discovery Rules Delays NY Budget Talks

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s effort to get New York’s $252 billion budget sewn up has been thwarted by pushback to her plan for changing pretrial discovery rules, highlighting a clash among New York Democrats on how to handle criminal justice issues.

The Democratic governor’s push to loosen rules on the evidence prosecutors must share with criminal defendants before trial is backed by New York’s law-enforcement groups but contested by the state’s criminal defense bar.

Both sides are lobbying lawmakers as budget negotiations blew past the April 1 deadline.

On Thursday, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) told reporters that the issue is a “logjam” and legislators and the governor are still “spinning our wheels” over it.

While the tide has shifted from the early half of the decade, when New York pushed changes to criminal laws law like barring judges from setting bail on lower-level offenses, a stronghold of left-leaning lawmakers in New York is holding firm.

“The New York State Assembly has long resisted on principle any change to the criminal code that makes it easier to put people away,” said Eric Soufer, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Heastie.

Now, Soufer said, “they’re going against the DAs, the governor, the mayor, and the prevailing political winds not just in the state, but in the country.”

Clock Ticking

On Thursday, Hochul signed a four-day budget extension to keep the state government open as she negotiates with lawmakers over the discovery law and other policy items tied to the state spending plan. That’s led to a final frenzied push among legal coalitions.

Groups like the New York Civil Liberties Union have headed to Albany to urge legislators to keep Hochul’s discovery changes out of the budget.

“It’s really not fair to be making fear-driven policies when you’re the one telling everyone that the world outside is more dangerous than it is,” NYCLU senior policy counsel Justin Harrison said in an interview.

In Hochul’s corner are groups like the Partnership for New York City, which represents the interests of executives across sectors, including Big Law firms.

They’ve rallied to roll back the change with an online ad blitz, said Kathy Wylde, CEO of the group, who got involved after employers told her workers feel unsafe commuting.

“Democrats are used to relying on the defender advocates as their brain trust on criminal justice,” Wylde said. “And the loudest voices in Albany get the worm.”

Defense Bar Pushes Back

The battle over discovery stretches back to 2019, when New York tightened rules on what prosecutors have to hand over and when.

Hochul announced her plan to roll back the 2019 law earlier this year, while the state Assembly and state Senate, both headed by Hochul’s fellow Democrats, kept the Hochul plan out of their budget proposals.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) said in a statement that the 2019 changes have led to a surge in dismissals on technical grounds, “for reasons that have nothing to do with fairness or justice.”

Public defender groups have pointed to data showing the dismissals haven’t risen in other parts of the state. And they contend the dismissals that occur stem from prosecutors unable to marshal sufficient evidence to prove their case.

Before 2019 defense attorneys weren’t able to fully evaluate a case before trial, said Sherry Levin Wallach, deputy executive director of The Legal Aid Society of Westchester County and a board member of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“The changes have made the system fairer,” Wallach said.

Political Stakes

Where New York Democrats land will offer another indicator of the party’s positioning on crime and incarceration as they look toward 2026 midterms.

When the laws were passed, “the left appeared to be ascendant in New York,” said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who supports tougher criminal laws. “But poor planning, coupled with the Covid pandemic and all the antisocial forces that unleashed, pushed the public back to wanting a law-and-order approach.”

Still, she said, some of the left-wing energy remains within the Legislature even as top executives like the governor are more moderate.

On Friday, Hochul’s spokesman pointed to her past comments saying she’d hold up the budget as long as it takes to get her proposal passed.

For the governor, who’s positioning herself for a 2026 reelection campaign, the stakes are high.

“She can’t go home empty-handed,” Soufer said.