BUTTING HEADS ON BAIL
Eric’s push to revisit reform meets resistance in Albany
Mayor Adams outlined several of his top state budget priorities to Albany lawmakers Wednesday — and tangled with them over his demands that recent bail reforms must be revisited to address a surge in gun violence.
Adams testified remotely before the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, and called on state legislators to help promote several parts of his agenda, including authorization to raise the earned-income tax credit, increased tax credits for child care, $19 billion in increased borrowing authority, and more funds — and beds — for the mentally ill.
But that agenda was overshadowed by an ongoing debate over public safety — an issue that was central to Adams’ victory in last year’s mayoral election. Crime has been front and center during his first weeks in office — most notably after two NYPD officers, Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, were fatally shot on the job.
In recent weeks, the mayor has repeatedly called on state lawmakers to “tweak” bail reforms they enshrined into law and has specifically called on them to allow judges to assess a defendant’s “dangerousness” when setting bail. Supporters of those reforms — lawmakers who backed them primarily because the prior system adversely affected Black and Brown men — have countered that
Adams’ proposed changes would only result in watering down their accomplishments.
Wednesday proved no different — except for the fact that Adams got to hear their pushback in person and in public.
“Are you aware that guns are still bail-eligible? Are you also aware that in 2019, 95% of all people were not rearrested on violent felony offenses, and since bail reform, that number rose to 97% of the people who were released were not rearrested on violent felony charges?” said Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-Brooklyn), one of the key backers of the state’s bail reforms. “Dangerousness is not a tweak, but it is a wholesale change to our bail system and the way that we’ve been handling bail in the State of New York.”
Walker concluded her grilling of Adams by challenging him to a debate and reminding him that violent crime is not only on the rise in New York, but in other states where similar bail reforms have not been enacted.
In his response, Adams shifted rhetorical gears from the mostly collegial air he gave off throughout most of his testimony to a more challenging footing.
“I don’t think you should debate me. You should debate the 11-month-old baby’s mother,” he said, referring to an infant who was shot in the face in the Bronx last month. “You should debate the two police officers that we lost. You should debate the people who ... ”
Walker interrupted: “No — it’s you who are making this a political issue.
“You don’t have to tell me to debate a person who lost an 11-month old child because I lost a brother at the age of 19 years old to gun violence,” she said. “When you are adopting a rhetoric of people who are male, pale and stale in this state to say that racially insinuated criminal justice reform in our country is harming our city — I just think it’s wrong.”
Walker was not the only one who pushed back against the mayor. Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx), Assemblyman Kenny Burgos (D-Bronx) and several others also asked him to reconsider his plan, while allies like Sen. Diane Savino (D-S.I.) voiced support for it.
While bail reform dominated much of Adams’ more than three hours of testimony, he touched on a range of other topics.
To jump-start a city still struggling with the COVID pandemic, Adams also made a case for the state to increase the city’s ability to issue bonds. Jacques Jiha, Adams’ budget director, noted that the city wants the state to grant $19 billion in additional borrowing capacity.
“This is to help for existing projects,” Jiha said. “Because the property value in New York City has dropped, so our debt capacity has dropped. So we’re asking the state to basically restore the debt capacity we had before the pandemic.”
The Citizens Budget Commission called Adams’ and Jiha’s request “premature,” given further federal funding that may be coming to the city.
In making his case to expand the earned-income tax credit — a tax break for low- and moderate-wage earners — Adams argued that the city and state haven’t increased it in almost 20 years. And he called on lawmakers to help the poor and the working class by approving an expansion of child-care tax credits — something Gov. Hochul has proposed in her budget plan.
“We look forward to working with the governor — and you — to go further in providing pathways for families to access affordable child care,” he said. “This is so important for us.”