New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

Less than a month before New York's new laws on cash bail, criminal discovery and the right to a speedy trial are set to take effect, the leader of the state Assembly said Wednesday that the Legislature is unlikely to heed calls from law enforcement to delay their implementation.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, told reporters at the state capitol in Albany that moving the start date of those laws would be antithetical to the intent of the changes.

"I think if you delay the implementation then that's still months of people who have been victimized by an unjust criminal justice system by being in the system even further," Heastie said.

Heastie was responding to a question from the New York Law Journal about efforts from prosecutors and members of law enforcement in recent months to convince the Legislature they aren't ready to implement the new laws on their scheduled start date of Jan. 1.

Prosecutors, particularly those in rural counties outside New York City, have said they won't be prepared to comply with the new laws by then. The same argument has been made by sheriffs and municipal leaders in rural areas of the state. 

That's because, they've said, they'll need to hire more staff to comply with the new laws, which largely require defendants to receive information about the charges against them sooner than under previous law, and possibly more supervision if they're released before trial.

Heastie acknowledged that the new laws will be an adjustment for prosecutors and members of law enforcement, but said the changes will, in part, make the system fairer for low-income defendants accused of a crime, versus those who could previously afford bail.

"I know in this world people are very hesitant and resistant to change," Heastie said. "Nobody likes to change the way they do business, but I think coming up with a system that treats people equally and fairly without having access to money is the right system to have."

The coming changes broadly address three areas of criminal law: cash bail, criminal discovery and a defendant's right to a speedy trial.

The changes to criminal discovery have been the most controversial among prosecutors in terms of cost. The new law will require them to hand over discovery, or information to be used at trial, within 15 days of a defendant's arraignment in most cases.

That kind of deadline didn't previously exist in state law. Defense attorneys and supporters of the new law have said the limit will allow defendants to have access to the evidence against them sooner, which will help them decide their next steps in a case. 

But prosecutors have said that 15 days isn't a reasonable amount of time for them to compile and review discovery before it's sent to a defendant's attorney. That evidence has to be manually reviewed, and in some cases it hasn't been received from law enforcement.

Prosecutors have also said that, with those changes, technological upgrades among their offices and members of law enforcement would expedite discovery. To do that, they would need a major infusion of funding, they've said. 

The largest cost, prosecutors have said, would be from having to hire more staff to review discovery before its sent to defendants. Municipal leaders have said they would face the same problem from having to hire more police officers.

Under the new bail law, most defendants charged with low-level or nonviolent crimes will be released before trial without having to post bail. Local probation officials told lawmakers during a public hearing last month that they don't have the staff to monitor more defendants before trial.

Those costs would be borne by counties, rather than the state itself, because municipalities fund the activities of local law enforcement and prosecutors.

Heastie said Wednesday that he expects the reforms to largely pay for themselves over time because counties will save money from having fewer people in jail before trial. In the meantime, he said lawmakers may consider whether to provide a short-term infusion of funds.

"I think that over time, if there's less people that are in jail, then there's less cost of supervising people in jail. So, eventually it will lead to a county savings," Heastie said. "I know they've raised the issue of transition or transitional money, but we'll have to wait to see on that."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has similarly rebuffed arguments from prosecutors and other stakeholders that more funding will be needed to implement the changes. Freeman Klopott, a spokesman from the state Division of Budget, has said new legislative changes will front the cost.

"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.

Cuomo and lawmakers, for example, approved a new tax on internet sales earlier this year that's expected to provide $160 million in new revenue to counties in New York.

Prosecutors and members of law enforcement, including the New York Sheriffs Association, have also been critical of the content of the new laws, particularly when it comes to cash bail. 

They've argued that, with fewer defendants eligible for cash bail, judges should be allowed to assess a defendant's perceived dangerousness, or threat to public safety, to decide if they should be incarcerated before trial. 

Heastie, and other Democrats, rejected including such a provision in the changes earlier this year, and sources have said that position hasn't changed.

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