N.Y. lawmakers plan package of bills after Marcy Correctional homicide
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In today’s CapCon:
A package of bills is planned in response to the death of Robert L. Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility. Here are a few of them.
Janno Lieber, chair of the MTA, will be at the Capitol on Thursday to take questions from the state Legislature. Here’s what else is on deck tomorrow.
On The Bill: Not all judges in New York are attorneys. In fact, many are not. Here’s why some lawmakers see that as a problem, and what they want to do about it.
New Bills of Note: Mobile sports betting, 50-a law enforcement records, and a tax credit for hiring people who are unemployed.
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✒️ Lawmakers plan a package of bills after Robert L. Brooks’ death at Marcy
It’s been nearly two months since Robert L. Brooks died after being beaten by several correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility.
A special grand jury is now set to begin reviewing evidence in the case that prosecutors have built against them next week after Brooks’ Dec. 10 death was ruled a homicide. That could result in charges against the officers involved.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Wednesday that she wants that process to move quickly.
“Those responsible for Mr. Brooks’ death must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, and I recognize the need to build an airtight prosecution to ensure those individuals are brought to justice,” Hochul said.
“This reprehensible act of violence demands the full force of our justice system — the family of Mr. Brooks deserves no further delays,” she added.
The autopsy report from the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office last week found that Brooks died from “compression of the neck and multiple blunt impact injuries.”
The videos of him being beaten are gut-wrenching and shouldn’t be watched if you’re sensitive to violence.
But members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus are now planning to unveil a package of bills aimed at preventing this kind of incident from happening again.
That’s part of their legislative agenda for the year to improve the lives of Black New Yorkers in particular, and we got a sneak peek of that Wednesday.
The package is particularly important, members said, in the face of pressure at the federal level to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
It’s a mystery to me as to why more people outside the Caucus don’t pay attention to its priorities. The two legislative leaders are members, which also adds some power.
It’s also difficult to know what’s important to a marginalized group when you don’t know the specific issues they face. That’s why I think it’s really important to listen to others, particularly for reporters who don’t have a personal connection to something.
But Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, a Democrat who chairs the Caucus, has that personal connection.
“We understand the metrics and we don’t have to go over statistics because we live it every day,” Solages said Wednesday.
📋 What the Caucus wants outside its bills on Brooks’ death
Let’s briefly go through the priorities laid out by the Caucus on Wednesday that aren’t in response to Brooks’ death.
“This is really an agenda of what it means to have a Black future in New York,” Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo said.
That includes universal child care and expanded access to the birthing assistants known as doulas. The Caucus also wants $1 billion in the state budget to provide year-round work opportunities for teenagers and young adults.
Another priority is the Second Look Act, a bill from Assemblywoman Latrice Walker that would allow incarcerated people with long sentences to ask that those terms be reconsidered after 10 years.
“As we are watching DEI being eviscerated in Washington, D.C., we are seeing the attacks on our voting rights, we are watching as the attacks and the relitigation of our civil rights happen each and every day right before our eyes,” Walker said.
That ties into another bill from Sen. Cordell Cleare that would remove the prohibition on people serving on a jury if they’ve been convicted of a felony. Her bill would allow that after the person completes their sentence.
“We have to get a jury of our peers,” Cleare said. “It is alarmingly not brown or Black people sitting there.”
The agenda also comes with requests for more funding in certain areas, including more for the state’s Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) program, $50 million for Black-led community groups that offer services, and more.
🖊️ What’s in the package of bills in response to Brooks’ death
The Caucus doesn’t have the full package of bills in response to the death at Marcy just yet, but Solages said it would include a mix of new and old proposals.
“Whether it’s an increase of money for body cameras, increased cameras throughout the (prison) system, ensuring there’s a whistleblowing ombudsman — there are several proposals we’re pushing,” Solages said.
“It’s also new proposals we’re presenting and hopefully in the next coming weeks, you’re going to see our package around Robert Brooks,” Solages said.
They plan to make those bills a priority in negotiations around the state budget, Solages said. That means they could use their ranks to pressure Hochul and their colleagues to sign on for the sake of a larger spending plan.
“And FYI: (Neither) the governor nor either house can pass a budget without the Caucus,” said Sen. Kevin Parker.
I’ve been tracking the bills that have been introduced since Brooks’ death that are linked to the incident. Here are a few of those.
Cleare has introduced two bills.:
One would require correction officers to intervene when they witness incidents of violence involving someone in prison and another officer.
Another would make it a Class E felony for a correction officer to interfere with medical assistance administered to someone in prison.
Sen. Jeremy Cooney has introduced a bill that would allow the attorney general to appoint a special independent counsel to investigate incidents involving the death of someone in prison at the hands of a correction officer. (The attorney general’s office has recused itself in Brooks’ death due to the fact that its civil division had been defending several of the officers involved against lawsuits accusing them of previous alleged brutality.)
And Senate Correction Committee Chair Julia Salazar has a bill that would create a new definition of “serious misconduct” for correction officers. The bill would also create a new disciplinary process that would give the head of the state’s prison system the final word.
Each of those bills has been added to our 2025 New York Bill Tracker, which you get for free as a paid CapCon subscriber. ⬇️
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At the Capitol gives you information about scheduled committee meetings, hearings and other government goings-on at the Capitol and in the Legislature.
🕥 At the Capitol: Thursday
The Legislature doesn’t have session scheduled for Thursday but will hold a budget hearing on transportation.
Janno Lieber, chair of the MTA, will be there to testify, his office confirmed to me.
His testimony could be interesting for a few reasons. With congestion pricing now in effect, lawmakers could be curious about how that’s going and what the impact would be of President Donald Trump rescinding federal approval for the program.
But the MTA also needs a new source of revenue in this year’s state budget to help fund its $65 billion capital plan. I don’t think it’s likely that Lieber will opine on a solution, but he could have an update on revenue lost from fare evasion.
Marie Therese Dominguez, commissioner of the Department of Transportation, is expected to testify, as is Mark Schroeder, commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Frank Hoare, executive director of the Thruway Authority, is also expected to testify. The Thruway is still dealing with millions of dollars in unpaid tolls. Hoare could have an update there.
What: Budget hearing: transportation
When: 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 6
Where: Hearing Room B, Legislative Office Building, Albany
Who: Senate and Assembly
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On The Bill features a bill in the state Legislature that we find interesting, and that you may not hear about otherwise. These can be new or old bills.
✍️ On The Bill: Non-attorney judges in criminal proceedings
Sponsor(s): Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, D-Queens
History: First introduced in 2009
Current status: Assembly Judiciary Committee
📝 Purpose: This bill is called the Uniform Court Justice Act.
When someone is arrested, they’re taken to their local court to appear before a judge. In rural areas, those are often local town and village courts; because state law doesn’t require those justices to be attorneys, they’re often not.
A defendant can ask to have their case moved to another judge or court, but that is not guaranteed. This would create an automatic right to have a case reassigned to a judge who is a practicing attorney.
🔎 More context: There were 24 judges in New York last year who were either sanctioned, removed or resigned while under investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Of those, 13 were not attorneys. That trend has continued this year, including the resignation of a town justice in Rensselaer County this week.
Some members of the state Legislature have claimed in recent years that non-attorney judges in small town and village courts may not be well-versed in criminal law and procedures, leading to improper decisions for defendants.
But requiring that each judge also hold a law degree would be difficult. There isn’t a deep bench of attorneys in every municipality, and none are obligated to run for office.
This legislation stems from a 2008 report from the state’s Special Commission on the Future of the New York State Courts that looked at issues in town and village courts, including the behavior of non-attorney judges.
Lawmakers introduce bills all the time. We’ll tell you about the interesting ones here. This section may not appear on days when there are no new bills of note.
I feature new bills in CapCon most days and some of them are really important. This is the kind of content you won’t get anywhere else. Again, here’s that seven-day free trial.
Mobile Sports Betting: New York enacted a law last year that requires advertisements for gambling and mobile sports betting to disclose the potentially addictive nature of those games. This would prohibit mobile sports betting operators from sending push notifications or text messages in an effort to reduce the likelihood of addiction. (A4279 Bores)
Police Records Under 50-a: New York repealed the section of state Civil Rights Law a few years ago to give the public access to the personnel records of law enforcement officers. This would change that to keep unsubstantiated, unfounded or exonerated claims made against officers unavailable to the public by sealing them. (S4117 Scarcella-Spanton)
Employing the Unemployed: Some employers may be hesitant to hire someone who’s not already employed, taking that as a red flag. This would offer an incentive to employers by creating a tax credit of $2,400 for every unemployed person hired by the company. (S4268 Ashby)
More from the Times Union (free for CapCon Subscribers):
Advocates rally for sweeping changes to sentencing laws
Troopers 'justified' to kill suspect who fired at them on Thruway
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