• The New York Constitution sets a budget deadline of April 1.
• Bail reform has long rankled Democrats, who have argued for years about how much to tinker with the reforms originally passed in 2019.
• Gov. Cathy Hochul is at odds with her legislative counterparts on her desire to eliminate a key element of the current bail laws.

Days before the state budget approaches, New York Gov. Cathy Hochul and her Democratic-supermajority legislature are locked in a debate over further changes to bail laws, despite strong public support for giving judges more discretion over bail.

The New York state constitution gives the governor’s office the upper hand in budget negotiations, which is the current location of Hochul’s push to roll back recent bail reforms. But the legislature has so far shown little appetite to change the bail laws that it has already amended on several occasions.