Results tagged “reform”

Today, the NY Times launched announced its new editorial series on the incompetence of the NY State government, called "Failed State." A year away from state elections, a fired-up Times rails against the "inbred system [which] allows so many lawmakers to abuse the public trust," summarizing some of the more egregious abuses of the past couple years and some of the major grievances which they plan to address in the series. Warning—if you don't already want to head up to Albany with a pitchfork, you will now:

Today is the day that the hard-fought changes to the Rockefeller-era Drug Laws go into effect, and lawyers for hundreds of low-level drug offenders in New York prisons are preparing petitions for shortened sentences or release. Once among the harshest in the nation, the laws were enacted more than 30 years ago under Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and required mandatory prison terms for a variety of drug crimes.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board might as well change its name to the Civilian Complaint Review Ignored. Complaints about police misconduct will hit a record high this year, but the CCRB's budget has been slashed. 26 investigators are being cut from the payroll, so half of the cases will be dropped because investigators can't meet the 18-month statute of limitations. It gets worse...

In a couple hours, President Obama will release his plans to reshape—and, he hopes, improve— financial market regulation. According to the NY Times, it "is the product of weeks of meetings among government officials, financial experts, lawmakers, industry executives and lobbyists, many of whom were invited to help the White House draft the proposal." You can read the draft here; the proposal says, "We need to be sure that the government has the tools it needs to manage crises, if and when they arise, so that we are not left with untenable choices between bailouts and financial collapse." CNBC says that it's drawing mixed reviews so far, but Obama told Bloomberg News, "Wall Street seems to maybe have a shorter memory about how close we were to the abyss than I would have expected." He did say, "You’re starting to see the engines of the economy turn," but admitted, "It’s going to take a long time" and expects 10% unemployment.

State Senator Hiram makes it two days in the row on the cover of the Daily News: After his Mets-Yankees game appearance with fellow dissident Democrat Senator Pedro Espada Jr., now Monserrate is making waves by telling the News he's going to vote with the Democrats, just one week after he and Espada helped Republicans take control of the Senate. The lawmaker from Queens broke the news to Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez, saying, "I'm coming home."

The state District Attorneys Association, having failed to convince Albany that reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws was a bad idea, is employing a novel tactic in their attempt to keep upstate prisons stocked with convicts: Let the real experts on incarceration speak! They've released an audio recording (below) of a prison inmate with "a 27 page long rap sheet" talking about the reforms on the phone. The DAs think the recording will prove that offering drug treatment instead of prison will be exploited by criminals like this unidentified man, who derides the new reforms as the "Drug Dealers Protection Law... They just gave me the free for all. You know what that means? I'm burning the streets when I go home."

For years now, tenant activists have dreamed of a State Senate controlled by Democrats, because then they'd finally get changes to the rent regulation laws that the Republican majority had so consistently blocked. But advocates for rent reform are now dismayed to find that Democratic Senators are as beholden to landlord campaign donations as the GOP. Albany watchdog group NYPIRG reports that since January 2007, Democratic lawmakers have accepted more than $1 million in donations from landlords, about $500,000 less than Republicans raked in.

State Senate Republicans are voicing outrage today following Governor Paterson's morning press conference announcing an agreement among Democrats to repeal most of the Rockefeller-era drug laws. Republican State Senator Martin Golden, whose district stretches from Bay Ridge to Gerritsen Beach, tells the Times Union the reform will "coddle the criminals and put them back on the streets." Others derided the repeal's treatment programs as a "Get out of Jail Free Card." And Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos is threatening to keep his members out of the chamber unless Republicans get "a sufficient amount of time" to study the bill.

As part of a push to repeal the mandatory sentencing laws known as the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Governor Paterson will propose a compromise bill intended to woo State Senate Republicans, who largely represent rural areas upstate where prisons are major sources of jobs. According to the Times, the bill, which is still being drafted, will be proposed as part of the package of budget bills that lawmakers must approve by April 1st, and will call for spending roughly $50 million to finance treatment programs and additional drug courts.

A state commission has recommended revising New York's drug laws to favor rehab for low-level offenders and give judges more discretion in sentencing convicts, but many lawmakers say the commission's report falls short. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver called it a "missed opportunity" in a letter to commission Chairwoman Denise O’Donnell:

The Commission held in its hands a unique opportunity to help undo thirty-five years of failed drug policy and set New York on the path to establishing a more just, more humane and more effective approach to combat drug crime and drug abuse. I am saddened that it failed to do so.

Continue reading "Rockefeller Drug Law Reform Report Too Weak for Shelly"