Gov open to reform of reform

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo reiterated his willingness to reexamine New York’s controversial new bail laws Tuesday as he delivered his annual budget address.

Cuomo defended the changes made to the criminal justice system, which were tucked into last year’s budget, by insisting that “reform is an ongoing process” and calling for cooler heads to prevail as opponents rail against the reforms.

“It’s not that you reform a system once and then you walk away. You make change in a system, it has consequences. And you have to understand those consequences,” he said.

“We need to re spond t the fact but not th politics, we need t act on information and not hyper bole.”

Republicans have spent recent weeks blasting Democrats over the changes, which eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, saying they go too far and jeopardize public safety.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea StewartCousins (D-Yonkers) (inset) said she is meeting this week with prosecutors from across the state to discuss the reforms.

“The reality is we changed a dysfunctional system that has been extremely unjust, certainly to poor people,” Stewart-Cousins said. “The opportunity to change the system and to continue to listen makes sense to me. It’s what we have always promised we would do.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) appeared much less open to any talk of rolling back the reforms, which went into effect at the beginning of the year.

“What’s today’s date? It’s Jan. 21? It’s day 21. Next question,” he said.