Legislation that would permanently refer cases of police-involved deaths to the state Attorney General's Office, instead of the local district attorney, is scheduled to be considered by a key committee in the state Assembly on Tuesday.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Nick Perry, D-Brooklyn, is on the agenda of the Assembly Codes Committee, after which it could head to the floor of the lower chamber for a vote.

It's been a surprise issue for the end of this year's legislative session after Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently urged lawmakers to approve the bill. It would codify and expand an executive order he first signed in 2015 that directs all cases to the state Attorney General's Office where an unarmed civilian is killed after an interaction with police.

Executive orders are temporary, meaning that Cuomo has to routinely extend the measure. He told reporters earlier this week that, if lawmakers did not take steps to codify the order into law, he may stop extending it.

“We were supposed to pass a law that enshrined a special prosecutor for police misconduct. That has never happened,” Cuomo said. “I'm not going to continue to do this under executive order. I want a real office set up with real funding and real expertise.”

The state's district attorneys are mixed on whether the attorney general's office should have permanent jurisdiction over police-involved fatalities. When Cuomo first issued the executive order, many took issue with the notion that local prosecutors could not conduct an impartial investigation into members of local law enforcement.

The executive order also had a rocky start. It was light on details about how local prosecutors would coordinate with the state Attorney General's Office when there was a question as to who should investigate the case. Those issues appear to have been ironed out for the most part.

The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York hasn't taken a position on legislation that would codify the executive order into law. Albany County District Attorney David Soares, the current president of DAASNY, is personally supportive of lawmakers passing the bill.

“It's time for them to codify this and for them to pour the resources into these investigations that communities are very concerned about,” Soares said.

The bill moved out of the Codes Committee last week in the State Senate, where it's currently in the Finance Committee. State Sen. Jamaal Bailey, D-Bronx, sponsors the bill in the upper chamber. He said last week that he's working to move the bill by the end of the session.

The legislation would go beyond Cuomo's executive order. Cuomo's version would only direct cases where a civilian is unarmed to the state Attorney General's Office for investigation and possible prosecution.

The proposal from Bailey and Perry would have the Attorney General's Office handle all cases where a civilian dies after an interaction with law enforcement, regardless of whether they were armed or not. It would also make certain grand jury proceedings more readily available to the public.

The Attorney General's Office would have to recuse itself when someone dies after an interaction with the State Police. Instead, a special investigator and prosecutor would be appointed by a county judge to handle those cases since the State Police is under the control of the Attorney General's Office.

Cuomo and most lawmakers have largely been mum on the issue this year, with the exception of a handful of events led by criminal justice advocates and the governor's State of the State Address in January. It was originally part of Cuomo's executive budget, but the measure fell out of talks before the spending plan was approved at the end of March.

Soares said, if lawmakers go ahead with the bill, they should also earmark funds to ensure that the Attorney General's Office can hire more investigators and prosecutors to look into cases statewide.

“What world are we in here, where you codify something and put no investment into the very thing that you're codifying?” Soares said.

The Attorney General's Office already operates an Office of Special Investigation, which was created in response to Cuomo's executive order. The legislation from Bailey and Perry would make that office permanent and expand its jurisdiction.

It's something that New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who first took office this year, has supported in various forms. She put out her own proposal last year that would direct cases to her office where civilians are injured during an interaction with law enforcement or when an officer is accused of sexual assault or a hate crime.

Lawmakers have the next two weeks to approve the legislation, in whatever form, before this year's legislative session is scheduled to end.

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