Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, one of Democrats who led negotiations on the bail reform law earlier this year. Photo: Joseph Lentol/Facebook

Less than two months before New York's new law eliminating cash bail for nonviolent and low-level charges is set to take effect, counties outside New York City are still trying to figure out how they'll comply with the measure without any additional funding. 

They're asking the state to set aside money next year so they can provide the pretrial services required in the law for defendants who will no longer be held in jail before trial. 

Bob Iusi, the Warren County probation director who also chairs the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force at the New York State Association of Counties, said his office currently doesn't have what it needs to comply with the new law next year.

"If we open up the floodgates, so to speak, and have a large amount of people directed to report to us, we do not have the infrastructure to do this on Jan. 1," Iusi said.

He made those comments Thursday in Albany, where the state Legislature was holding a public hearing on alternatives to incarceration and pretrial services ahead of the law's implementation. It's scheduled to take effect next year.

The event was organized by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, a Democrat from Brooklyn who chairs the Assembly Codes Committee. Lentol was one of a handful of Democrats who led negotiations on the bail reform law earlier this year. It was approved by the Legislature in March.

It was tucked into a section of the state budget that also advanced new changes to the state's laws on criminal discovery and the right to a speedy trial.

But despite its place in the budget, lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have declined to earmark new funds for pretrial services.

Lentol said before the hearing Thursday that Cuomo and lawmakers should plan to set aside specific funding for pretrial services in the coming year. That way, the implementation of the new bail law will reflect what lawmakers intended while crafting it.

"The consequences are very dire, I think, if it's not funded correctly because this is the right thing to do, but you can't do it unless you have the money to make it go," Lentol said. "A lot more people will be required, under the program, maybe, to have pretrial services."

Lentol, and those who called for additional funding Thursday, didn't have a specific dollar amount the state would need to invest for local pretrial services agencies and probation departments to comply with the new law. 

Craig McNair, who's president of the New York Association of Pretrial Services Agencies, said there's currently no statewide number for how much funding agencies need, but that some "could certainly use more." He spoke to the Law Journal by phone Thursday.

Those amounts vary by county, McNair said, based on such factors as the funding currently available for agencies in those areas and the number of defendants who may be ineligible for cash bail under the new law. The latter data is difficult to nail down, he said.

"It's hard to plan because we just don't know what's going to happen," McNair said.

A spokesman for the state Division of Budget, which is controlled by Cuomo, said Thursday that millions of dollars in revenue will be generated for counties through changes in this year's state budget. A new tax on internet sales is expected to generate $160 million, for example.

Counties will also be saving money as the population in local jails declines as a result of the new bail law, said Freeman Klopott, the spokesman.

"There is no question resources are available for the implementation of these critical reforms as the state invests more than $300 million to support them and local governments will recognize hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings from a declining inmate population," Klopott said.

Lentol said Thursday that the burden shouldn't be on counties to provide funding for the new criminal justice laws. That money, he said, should be allocated in next year's state budget to either reimburse counties for those costs or provide a direct infusion of funding.

"We always hear about unfunded mandates and the counties are right," Lentol said. "The mandate on them to do better with no money when it comes to bail reform is unthinkable, and they ought to have funds from the state in order to deliver on our promise of bail reform."

For those who haven't experienced pretrial services, the concept can be confusing. In some areas, pretrial services are as simple as taking calls from defendants required to check in while awaiting trial. Defendants in other areas may be diverted to substance use treatment. 

Scott Glueckert, the Delaware County probation director and a past president of the New York State Council of Probation Administrators, said his office only has one person who handles pretrial services. He expects the demand for those services to increase with the new law.

"I'm not really sure how I'm going to implement this yet," Glueckert said. "I don't have the staff. I don't have the infrastructure. I don't even have the office space to do it."

That's not to say that Glueckert, Iusi, and other local probation officials are opposed to the new law. In fact, they said, they support the measure. They're just not sure how it's going to affect them. 

That's because, like McNair said, it's difficult for them to project how many more cases they'll be dealing with come next year. That all depends on how many people are charged with crimes eligible for presumptive release, and how many of those individuals require supervision.

"It's a hard figure to grasp right now, but there's the potential in each jurisdiction for many cases to have, at least, some reporting obligation to a local pretrial services agency," Iusi said.

The new law is intended to allow more people to remain out of jail before their trial by eliminating the option of cash bail for most nonviolent and low-level charges. Those individuals will, instead, be released after their arraignment in most cases.

Judges will be allowed to require that the defendant, as part of their release, be under the supervision of, or in contact with, their local pretrial services agency. State officials have estimated that 90% of defendants in New York will remain out of jail due to the law. 

Katie Schaffer, speaking for the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, said the state should also provide funding for communities to offer an expanded set of pretrial services, particularly in rural areas where the need is greater.

Schaffer, who was joined by other advocates of criminal justice reform, said state officials should focus part of their efforts on providing services — like counseling or drug use treatment — to defendants awaiting trial, rather than effectively putting them on probation.

That could also mean offering transportation for defendants in areas of upstate New York, like Delaware County, where there is no public transportation, for example. That would ensure defendants reappear for court.

"When someone does miss a court date, it's often because the court date conflicts with family or job responsibilities, or because the person suffers from chronic fhomelessness or emergency medical needs," Schaffer said. "These should be addressed by services, not punishment."

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