Judges will have "guardrails" and a "check list" for determining whether a person should remain in jaill pending trial, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters on Wednesday. 

The comments from Stewart-Cousins, made at an appearance at the Times Union, appeared to be part of an effort to assuage advocates who are concerned Democrats in the state Senate were pushing for a rollback of the law that ends cash bail for misdemeanor and non-violent felony offenses.  

Senate Democrats this month have proposed ending cash bail entirely, but giving judges the authority to remand people facing charges.

"It's not a rollback because when we end cash bail and we things that are not bail-able now for the most part would not be remandable," Stewart-Cousins. "That is very, very different from what is out there currently."

The law was approved last year in the budget and support for it among voters statewdie as steadily declined amid criticism from Republicans and law enforcement officials. 

A judicial discretion provision has raised concerns among advocates as well as lawmakers who are supportive of the existing law. They say such a provision would disproportionately keep people of color in jail. 

Criminal justice advocates, in particular, were distressed by the proposal from the Democrats in the state Senate. But politically Democrats from suburban and upstate New York remain concerned with the fallout surrounding the law's unpopularity. 

It's made for a delicate needle to be threaded for Stewart-Cousins and her conference. 

"I understand why people would react because it took so long to do anything and people hear the voices and people were yelling about repealing that that is something we are talking about," she said. "We are not." 

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has not embraced the proposal from Senate Democrats to make changes to the law. On Tuesday, Heastie once again decried what he said was fear mongering and sensationalism surrounding the issue.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile, has been open to changes by April 1, when the budget is due.

"This is why we put out why we put out," she said. "We have a vision for how to do this right and I'm hoping that we get it done."