Union again pushes to nix cash bail

A powerful New York union is again flexing its political muscle and opening its purse strings to push the state Legislature to pass a series of sweeping criminal justice reforms.

The Hotel Trades Council will launch a six-figure media blitz this week calling on elected officials in Albany to end cash bail, make evidencesharing practices more fair and speed up trials in the Empire State.

“Access to fair and equitable treatment by our criminal justice system should not depend on how much cash you have in your pocket or what neighborhood you’re from,” council President Peter Ward said in a statement.

Television ads will begin running on Wednesday in New York City, Albany and elsewhere across the state.

The 60-second spot notes that 45,000 people were jailed for a week or longer last year because they couldn’t afford bail and that it often takes two years for most misdemeanor charges to get to trial.

The ad buy will be coupled with an aggressive social media push.

It’s far from the first time the union has jumped into the fight for criminal justice reform in New York. In 2017, it launched a campaign supporting the Innocence Project’s push for mandating the electronic recording of interrogations and witness identification reform. Both passed as part of last year’s budget.

There are criminal justice reform bills related to ending cash bail and opening evidence-sharing up that are pending in both the Democratic-controlled state Assembly and Senate. Gov. Cuomo has called for reforms to be included in the budget, but details are still being worked out as the April 1 deadline approaches.

Advocates have long argued that the current cash bail system favors the wealthy and adversely affects poor black and Latino New Yorkers.

“I think we’re close,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said Monday when asked about reforms to cash bail.