Democrats last year, energized by their new majority in the state Senate, approved bill after bill of legislation that had been long-sought by the progressive left in New York. 

And now two of the measures -- one allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses and a law that restricts cash bail to only violent felony charges -- are being challenged at multiple levels of government. 

Some Democrats now are proposing measures that would roll back or alter those two laws in order to resolve the political headaches that have formed in the last several months. 

A provision within the driver's license measure that bars immigration enforcement officials from receiving DMV records without a court order is under renewed scrutiny this week as the Trump administration has placed a freeze on registrering for trusted traveler programs.

Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly, who worked closely only 12 months ago on a torrid pace of bills, are now openly feuding over the law ending cash bail for misdemenaor and non-violent fleony charges. Democrats who represent moderate districts want changes that would provide judges with more authority to keep people in jail; criminal justice reformers call that a step backward. 

The Legislature left Albany Thursday and won't return after a mid-winter break until Feb. 24 -- giving lawmakers roughly a month and less than a week until the state budget is due. 

The good feelings for Democrats, swept into power amid a liberal backlash to the era of President Donald Trump, have now ebbed to the point in which top leaders in either chamber aren't talking to one another.

The 2020 session was shaping up to be a potentially quiet one as all 213 seats in the Senate and Assembly face election in November.

The situation is not unlike what the party at the national level is grappling with now: A push and pull between moderate candidates and progressives who want to upend the party's power structure.

On the one end are Democrats seeking to protect their majority in the Senate, built on victories in moderate swing districts on Long Island and the Hudson Valley. 

On the other is the pent-up desire from advocates and progressives to sustain victories -- and grow them -- after last year.

Moderate Democrats in Albany, meanwhile, are seeking changes. 

Assemblywoman Monica Wallace, a western New York Democrat, introduced a bill on Thursday with Assemblyman Billy Jones of the North Country that would alter the driver's license measure, known as the Green Light Law, to end the freeze for trusted traveler programs like FAST And Nexus. 

"My understanding is that we need a solution that isn't on a case by case basis," Wallace said in an interview, referring to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to share the DMV records to the federal government that's limited to TTP applicants. 

"I believe an amendment or a repeal, more likely an amendment, is necessary to address this issue," she said. "My concern is the safety of the border patrol agents, making sure they have the tools they need to keep all of us safe."

Democratic Assemblyman Sean Ryan of Buffalo, meanwhile, said the situation over the law remained murky. 

"It just depends on waht the federal government needs," he said. "If they need to look at my driving history to do the background check to verify my Nexus, then sure." 

A trio of lawmakers who represent the Albany area, meawhile, met on Thursday morning with area sheriffs to discuss the cash bail law. The meeting included Asssembly Democrats Carrie Woerner, John McDonald and Pat Fahy. 

Saratoga County Undersheriff Robert Castle in an interview said the meeting was well received as law enforcement aired concerns over the bail measure as well as a companion law that is meant to speed up evidence discovery procedures, but has drawn concerns it will strain police resources. 

"I think it's really important to have that implementers perspective," Woerner said. "It's not a theory, it's actually on the ground, what's happening. They were kind enough to take time out of their schedule to sit with me and share with me what their experience has been and what the challengers are to have a better understanding and get below the headlines to understand what's happening."

Tempers are running high over the bail law. 

Democrats who supported the law and continue to do so on Wednesday questioned whether the Democrats in the state Senate who proposed a compromise -- abolishing bail entirely, but allowing judges to have the ability to keep people in jail -- accused them of bowing to racists and "white men with buzz cuts and MAGA hats." 

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Wednesday he didn't feel undermined by the state Senate. 

"I'm a big boy, I'm fine," he said. 

But what about the emotions surrounding the issues?

"This is a very emotional topic," he said. "When you do huge transformational things, I remember the rhetoric when President Obama came out with the Affordable Care Act, this is a very emotional thing to people. That's why I'm saying we should be cautious."

And when it comes to working with his counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Heastie said the relationship was intact.

"There's going to be days where the governor disagrees with me, there's going to be days where Andrea disagrees with me," he said. "But in the end we all have to do our jobs."