Mayors call for more funding to implement new criminal justice laws. Photo: Dan M. Clark/NYLJ

Mayors in New York became the latest round of officials Monday to call on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democrats in the state Legislature to provide more funding for localities to comply with the state's new criminal justice laws, which they also asked to be delayed six months.

The New York State Conference of Mayors, or NYCOM, said Monday that, without more funding, their resources will be stretched thin when the laws take effect in January.

"This is another unfunded mandate that the villages and cities have to address," said Robert T. Kennedy, the mayor of Freeport in Nassau County and current president of NYCOM.

It was the first time the state's mayors, in a unified front, have spoken out about the projected financial impact of the new criminal justice laws. County officials have previously voiced the same concerns. 

Kennedy, a Democrat, was joined by several other mayors from areas across the state in Albany on Monday to call for more funding, as well as other changes to the state's new criminal justice laws, before they're set to take effect at the start of next year.

Their focus was on the upcoming changes to criminal discovery, or information exchanged between prosecutors and the defense before trial. 

The new laws will require prosecutors in New York to hand over discovery to defense attorneys within 15 days of their client's arraignment. Such a deadline was not previously enshrined in state law, leaving some prosecutors to delay discovery until close to trial.

The change is intended to give defendants, and their attorneys, more time to build a case before they're set to go to trial. It would also inform defendants about what information prosecutors have on them and whether a plea deal would make more sense.

But with those changes comes a significant price, mayors said Monday. Kennedy said the bulk of that cost will come from having to hire more police officers.

That's because the state's new laws on criminal discovery will require local police departments to turn over evidence—including documents and digital files—to prosecutors within days of a defendant's arraignment.

Prosecutors have 15 days from an arraignment to deliver that material to the defense, but they have to receive it from local police departments and other entities before they can prepare it for discovery. That means that, to comply, prosecutors need to have it as soon as possible.

For some crimes, that material can be particularly voluminous. It can include the body camera footage from every officer at the scene of a crime, every document pertaining to that case, each audio file involved and other materials. 

"I can't hire civilians to do this discovery. I have to hire police officers," Kennedy said. "So, a police officer's going to do that, and they're going to spend hours."

Officers will either have to work overtime to comply with the new law, Kennedy said, or he'll have to hire more police to meet those demands. He's estimated an added cost of $2.2 million for his village alone as a result of the law.

That's partly due to how some of the local laws in Freeport would interact with the new criminal justice measures. Some building violations may require a jail term for failing to comply, for example, which would trigger the discovery requirements, he said.

"Every village is different. You might have more police, you have more building department codes, but what are the effects both financial and logistical?" Kennedy said. "That's a question everybody has to look at."

Richard David, the mayor of Binghamton, said he's in the same boat. He said his city doesn't have the resources it would need to fully comply with the new discovery laws. That means he'll likely have to make changes to his budget at the beginning of next year, he said.

"There are no new revenues coming in, so I'm going to have to change the budget," David said. "It means I'm going to have to make some cuts in some other areas if I need to hire more personnel."

That doesn't mean the state's mayors have taken a position against the new criminal justice laws. David, a Republican, said his issue wasn't as much over the content of the new laws—which also include the elimination of cash bail for most nonviolent and low-level charges. 

"The issue is more about the financial impact for municipalities in dealing with the changes, not necessarily the bail reform, because no one should be held for a lengthy period of time for, for example, stealing something from a store," David said.

The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, the trade group representing the state's prosecutors, has also repeatedly called for more funding from the state to implement the new laws.

Those calls have been met with resistance from Cuomo, who said earlier this month that he doesn't plan to propose new spending for the reforms. A spokesman for the state Division of Budget said Monday that localities have enough funding to support the changes.

"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," said Freeman Klopott, the spokesman.

Included in that funding is a new tax on internet sales, which is expected to generate $160 million in new revenue for localities, Klopott said. Kennedy said that money, while welcome, is not guaranteed to front the cost of the new laws.

"We don't know what the [aid for municipalities] funding is going to be," Kennedy said. "We don't know what the income is going to be for the internet sales tax. I hope it's going to be good."

Aside from more funding, NYCOM also pitched a series of changes to the state's new criminal justice laws—including a proposed delay until July. 

Also among those proposed changes was a pause on discovery in felony cases until after a defendant is indicted. That would be for cases where an individual is arrested and arraigned but isn't indicted by a grand jury until later. The proposal would essentially stop the clock.

They also proposed eliminating discovery requirements for violations—which would only leave them for misdemeanor and felony charges. Violations, like traffic tickets, would be subject to discovery under the law, prosecutors have said.

Their proposal would also pause discovery requirements for 30 days in cases where defendants attempt to negotiate a plea bargain with prosecutors. They're also seeking to allow information on victims to be withheld without a court order, as would be required under the reforms.

The new laws are set to take effect Jan. 1.

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