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A powerful state lawmaker admitted Friday that she wouldn’t know anything about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s bombshell proposal to roll back New York’s controversial criminal-justice reforms — if it wasn’t for The Post.
During an appearance on WNYC radio, state Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) said she checked her email before going on the air to see if she’d received a copy of Hochul’s plan, which The Post exclusively revealed on Thursday.
But there was nothing there from the governor, Krueger said.
“I know nothing about what’s actually being proposed other than the New York Post story,” she said told host Brian Lehrer.
Hochul’s 10-point plan would allow judges to lock up defendants based on their criminal records and use or possession of guns — criteria that nearly match Mayor Eric Adams’ request that “dangerousness” be made a factor in such decisions.
It would also expand the number of offenses for which bail could be set and allow teens caught with guns to be prosecuted in Criminal Court instead of Family Court, reversing provisions signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019.
Hochul wants her plan to be enacted as part of the state budget that’s due April, for which negotiations — in which Krueger is a key player — are now underway.
During her radio interview, Krueger said state lawmakers were “absolutely” concerned about spikes in crime in the Big Apple and across the state but said that “the data continues to reflect that the changes we made in bail are not correlated to the… gun violence or physical violence towards others in the streets.”
“I don’t believe that the Legislature thinks that the problems we are dealing with are related to changes with bail reform,” she said.
Several Democratic lawmakers who spoke on condition of anonymity also said Hochul’s proposal had yet to be widely distributed.
But one pol, who also read The Post’s report, said: “There’s definitely room to make an improvement — and to not consider these proposals would be a failure to do our job.”
Republican leaders said they were ready to back Hochul’s proposal and called on Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx) to also go on the record.
“While Senate Republicans await more details on Governor Hochul’s ‘bail reform’ and ‘public safety plan,’ the continued silence by the Senate and Assembly leaders speaks volumes,” state Sen. Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R-Lockport) said.
“Pro-criminal Socialists are in control of Albany and New Yorkers have had enough. It’s time to restore public safety to our state.”
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Syracuse) also said: “Put these into a bill, get it submitted and let’s pass them.”
“The support is there and I’m confident the votes are there. All that’s missing is the political will from Democratic leadership in the Assembly and Senate,” he said.
“Every Republican in the Legislature wants changes. Gov. Hochul apparently wants changes. Eric Adams wants changes. And day by day more Democrats are finally realizing what we’ve been saying for two years – something needs to be done.”
Neither Stewart-Cousins nor Heastie returned requests for comment.
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