Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday set an April 1 deadline for making changes to the state's bail law, the same day the state budget is expected to be in place.
"I want to respond to facts and data, not hysterics and politics in this crazy partisan time,” Cuomo said at a press conference at the Capitol.
The bail law ended cash bail for misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges. Support statewide for the measure has nosedived in the last year amid opposition from law enforcement and Republican elected officials.
Democrats, who control both chambers of the Legislature, have disagreed on what changes to make the law.
Cuomo noted that the state budget would mark three months since the law took effect, which he said is enough time to gauge it's effectiveness. He urged lawmakers to have conversations with each other in the meantime.
Democrats in the Senate and Assembly are still at odds over if changes should be made. Advocates who support the measure, however, have made it clear that any changes to these laws would only take the state backwards.
"We condemn the moral panic whipped up by law enforcement, prosecutors, and the media over this law," said the co-chair of the Green Party Peter LaVenia. "Mass incarceration created the expectation from police that they could harass and jail poor and mostly minority suspects with impunity, and from DA's that they could force plea deals from the accused without trial."
Senate Democrats have proposed completely eliminating cash bail and restoring judicial discretion. But Assembly Democrats say this would allow for racial biases.
Meanwhile, Senate and Assembly Republicans and are calling for the laws to be repealed and for the state to start over.