State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are "close to a general agreement" on addressing New York's bail law as part of a broader state budget package, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Tuesday. 

Lawmakers and Hochul have been in a nearly two-week stalemate over the bail issue in the budget talks as the governor is seeking changes to end the "least restrictive" standard for the 2019 law that largely ended cash bail for many criminal charges. 

The move is meant to potentially make it easier for judges to set bail in certain circumstances as the law has been a flashpoint in the debate over criminal justice and public safety in New York. 

"I think we're very close to a general agreement," Stewart-Cousins told reporters. 

In recent days, top Democrats have signaled they are willing to compromise with Hochul on the issue as long as a final deal does not undermine the initial intent of the law of creating inequities in the criminal justice system. 

Hochul has said the move is meant, in part, to clarify the law while also giving judges more discretion in some cases. Democratic leaders have argued judges already can set bail in many of these instances.

"I think what the governor has tried to do and what we certainly don't mind doing is that people understand and judges understand is they have discretion about that," Stewart-Cousins said. "So, clearly judicial discretion and judicial accountability is about that."

Opponents of the bail law have contended the measure has made the state demonstrably less safe as crime as risen in New York, an increase that supporters of the law have said coincides with the societal disruptions of the COVID pandemic. 

It's been a needle lawmakers and Hochul have to thread this year after an election season that hinged on crime concerns raised by voters. 

"We want to make sure justice is done, and I think we're almost there quite honestly," Stewart-Cousins said. 

The state budget was due April 1, but Hochul has held out for non-fiscal measures like the bail to be included in a final agreement. She is also seeking a statewide housing plan meant to boost units of housing by 800,000 in the next 10 years. 

Housing and bail have been the marquee issues in the negotiations, lawmakers have said in recent days. 

Issues surrounding an expansion of charter schools as well as increasing the state's minimum wage and a potential tax increase on wealthy New Yorkers earning more than $5 million a year have been barely mentioned in the public discussions surrounding the budget. 

A second temporary stopgap spending measure was approved on Monday by lawmakers to fund New York's state government for the next seven days. 

As to when a broader final deal on the budget can be put in place, Stewart-Cousins on Tuesday said "soon."