Albany County District Attorney David Soares says lawmakers did not think through the criminal justice law changes approved earlier this year, especially the financial impact local governments will face as a result.
“New York has now clearly gotten into the habit of passing what I call palm card reforms,” said Soares.
Soares points to changes like expanding evidence discovery laws as expense local governments will have to shoulder, requiring an investment in new technology and personnel.
“They are populist, palm card reforms, so the elected officials can go out and say what they've achieved, but they're provided no practical resources for implementation,” said Soares.
Soares says ending cash bail, meanwhile, did not come with changes like funding for alerting people to when their court date is held.
“Some communities, the wealthier communities, will be able to fall into compliance because of their tax base, but you're going to have pockets of communities that do not have those resources that will struggle,” said Soares.
But local governments have options. State officials expect savings when fewer people are spending time in local jails and they will get more revenue from the collection of internet sales tax.
A Division of Budget spokesman in a statement said the resources for the changes will be available. Meanwhile, local governments saw a different story with the implementation of early voting.
“This is the first year that we will have early voting, this is the first year where we will have this new system,” said Stephen Acquario, the executive director of the New York Association of Counties.
After boards of election raised concerns, Governor Cuomo's administration released $10 million in funding for the implementation of early voting. It was to the relief of Acquario.
“We need costs, upfront costs, to get the capital equipment, electronic poll books,” Acquario stated. “Hopefully the state will provide this as an ongoing resource, but we have to take that as it comes. What are the expenses at the local level?”
The new law requires county governments to hold at least 10 days of early voting, which include two weekends.