A bail bonds business along Atlantic Avenue in the Brooklyn. (Photo: Kathy Willens/AP)

Cash bail is expected to remain in New York for violent felony offenses, and judges will still be prohibited from considering a defendant's so-called “dangerousness,” or threat to public safety, as a factor to hold them in jail before trial, Democrats confirmed Friday.

Lawmakers said they would continue to work after the budget on a way to eliminate cash bail entirely in New York, but that the legislation set to be passed as part of the state budget on Sunday would still include a monetary component for a relatively small set of charges.

“We want to continue to have the conversation on what to do on the more serious of crimes but I'd say about 85 percent of the population will now be looking at a cashless bail system,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said. “But the assembly, the governor, and the Senate have all agreed that we want to continue to find a path to get to a totally cashless bail system.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, when asked by reporters Friday evening if he would agree with that interpretation of the final deal on bail, said “at this point, I would.”

“There is an agreement, yes. The details have to be completed,” Cuomo said. “The place there is no agreement right now is on violent felonies and the majority of the people affected are misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies and that needs to be completed. But there's conceptual agreement there.”

State Sen. Michael Gianaris, D-Queens, told reporters earlier in the day that lawmakers will include a list of violent felony offenses in forthcoming legislation that would still be eligible for cash bail or some other method, rather than presumptive release.

“We're discussing scenarios where cash bail will be eliminated for the vast majority of charges and we're just putting the final touches on what that would mean for the serious violent felonies that are not in that category,” Gianaris said.

Those charges could be eligible for some pretrial consequence other than remand that doesn't include cash bail, Gianaris said, but he confirmed that those conversations are ongoing between the Senate, Assembly and Cuomo's office.

“What's being finalized is how to treat that category, if felonies which will be listed out whether that's continuation of bail or some other alternative is still being discussed,” Gianaris said.

Cuomo confirmed to reporters later in the day that talks on what should happen for people charged with violent felonies, rather than cash bail, are ongoing between his office and members of the Legislature, who he said are split on that outcome.

“If it's not cash bail then what would the circumstances be for remand,” Cuomo said. “Would the person be entitled to a hearing, etc. That is the point of contention within the different factions in the Legislature.”

Lawmakers and Cuomo have also decided not to include “dangerousness” as a factor that judges can use when deciding whether to hold someone in jail before their trial, or release them on their own recognizance. Judges currently aren't allowed to use that specific factor when making that decision, but lawmakers had considered including it as part of bail reform.

“Dangerousness is out,” Gianaris said, which Heastie later confirmed to reporters.

That factor had been a particular sticking point among Democrats, who are split on whether it should be used. Some have argued that judges need to assess more than just a defendant's flight risk if cash bail is eliminated completely, but that concern seems to have diminished with a monetary component remaining in the final deal.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Westchester, said Democrats in her chamber were not moved to include the factor, instead deciding to keep the focus of bail on ensuring that a defendant return to their next court appearance after release.

“The dangerousness standard was a new standard where bail had always been about flight risk so we want to make sure we aren't changing definitions of what bail is for while we are trying to reduce the incidents of asking people for bail,” Stewart-Cousins said.

The remaining provisions of the legislation are unclear. Sources had said on Thursday that lawmakers were considering expanding charitable bail funds around the state in some way to compensate for cash bail remaining to some degree. But that was off the table Friday morning, sources said.

The legislation, according to sources, is expected to resemble a bill from Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, D-Brooklyn, that was introduced last year to reform the state's bail system. That bill eliminated cash bail for misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. It also would set standards for when judges can impose electronic monitoring for defendants released before trial.

The legislation is far off from where lawmakers started on bail reform this year, with Cuomo proposing a complete end to cash bail in his executive budget in January. Democrats seemed receptive to the proposal earlier this year, but talks fell apart after Democrats raised opposition to the inclusion of “dangerousness” as a provision of ending cash bail.

The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York had supported a similar proposal that would have allowed presumptive release for misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, but that idea would have allowed prosecutors to show evidence in court to move for pretrial incarceration. They had also opposed excluding dangerousness from any bail reform proposal.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares, the current president of DAASNY, criticized how lawmakers were compiling a list of charges that would be treated differently than others at the same level as part of the bail reform legislation.

“The sushi a la carte method of listing crimes may seem expedient to our lawmakers right now but it does nothing to benefit victims of crime or witnesses,” Soares said.

Criminal justice advocates who have been pushing lawmakers to end cash bail entirely this year called it a “far cry” from the bail reform deal they wanted to see come out of negotiations between Democrats. Katie Schaffer, a New York statewide organizer with criminal justice group JustLeadershipUSA, said they will continue their efforts to end cash bail altogether in the state.

“The bail proposal now agreed upon in the Legislature will protect some from pretrial jailing, but is a far cry from the comprehensive bail reform New Yorkers deserve,” Schaffer said. “We honor the work of all those who have been tireless in this effort and vow to continue the fight until New York State ends money bail, eliminates all racially-biased mechanisms for detention and protects due process and pretrial liberty for all New Yorkers.”

The proposal is set to be included in legislation that partly makes up the state budget, which lawmakers are expected to pass on Sunday.