TRAIN JUDGES ON BAIL
2 pols say they need refresher courses as laws keep shifting
ALBANY — Two top Democratic lawmakers want New York judges to be required to undergo annual training on the state’s bail laws.
As Gov. Hochul seeks to once again amend the state’s bail statute and grant judges more leeway when holding defendants pretrial, a bill introduced Thursday by Sens. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) and Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) would ensure jurists get an annual refresher on the subject.
The measure would mandate at least three hours of annual training related to bail, recognizance, and commitment procedures and standards for any judge or justice presiding over criminal cases.
“The true administration of justice requires public faith in an impartial, unimpeachable, and competent judiciary,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “Sadly, New York’s judicial accountability laws are shrouded in secrecy, fostering perceptions of corruption, incompetence, and unaccountability.
“We don’t even know if our judges are keeping up with major changes in the law,” he added.
The bill comes days after lawmakers grilled court officials during a budget hearing on public safety and Office of Court Administration Acting Chief Administrative Judge Tamiko Amaker said mandating training is unnecessary.
Out of 1,300 judges presiding over criminal cases in New York City, roughly 1,000 participated in training on the bail laws after the state implemented sweeping changes in 2019, Amaker said.
She said the “overwhelming majority” of judges have completed the nonrequired training and pushed back when lawmakers asked if the materials could be shared with legislators, arguing that they were “internal.”
New York restricted the use of cash bail and limited pretrial detention for most nonviolent crimes in 2019, sparking outrage from Republicans and law enforcement groups who have attempted to tie the reforms to rising crime.
Hochul — who successfully negotiated language into the state budget last year giving judges more discretion to set bail in cases involving repeat offenders, guns and defendants who are in violation of orders of protection — is looking to convince the Dem-led Legislature to again make changes.
The governor wants to strip language from the state’s bail laws requiring judges to impose the “least restrictive” conditions to ensure a defendant returns to court and instead allow them to weigh a variety of other factors.
In pushing for further rollbacks, Hochul has repeatedly argued that the law is confusing and she wants to fix “inconsistencies” stemming from language included in last year’s state budget.
Amaker rejected the governor’s repeated assertion that judges are unclear about the law.
“I don’t think the majority of judges who make these decisions don’t understand what their options are,” Amaker said. “They’re just looking at the specific circumstances that are before them.”
Under the new bill introduced on Thursday, failure to comply with the required training would constitute misconduct that the Commission on Judicial Conduct would be empowered to investigate and enforce.
A second bill from Gianaris and Hoylman-Sigal aims to increase transparency and accountability by allowing the CJC to publicize investigations once a formal charge has been filed against a judge. It would also extend the commission’s jurisdiction to allow investigations to continue after a judge resigns or retires.
The measures comes in the wake of reports that former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore and acting Chief Judge Anthony Cannataro underreported compensation to state tax officials by failing to declare any personal use of state-funded chauffeured cars in 2022.
Both DiFiore and Cannataro made use of court officer security details last year, but did not report any personal use on annual tax statements, Law360 reported.
A spokesman said DiFiore “never asked for, influenced or directed any determination regarding her detail.”
DiFiore stepped down last summer amid a state ethics probe into whether she wrongly interfered in a disciplinary hearing of the president of the state’s court officers association.