O’Mara criticizes governor for failing to demand immediate changes to 'No Bail' law: Says so-called ‘reforms’ keeping New York communities at risk, continues to offer online ‘Repeal Bail Reform’ petition

Albany, N.Y., January 21—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) today criticized Governor Andrew Cuomo for failing in his 2020-2021 state budget proposal to call for immediate action to stop the implementation of New York’s new “No Bail” law.

A new statewide poll released earlier today by the Siena College Research Institute shows nearly one-half of state voters think the new law is bad for New York.

“Governor Cuomo once again had a perfect stage to highlight the new ‘No Bail’ law as the public safety danger that it is and call for or take immediate action to ensure that New Yorkers throughout this state are no longer threatened by a bad law,” said O’Mara.  “Instead, Governor Cuomo paid lip service to maybe acting on changes sometime in the future.  We should be acting today to put a stop to this madness.  Not a day goes by without another story of another dangerous criminal being set free and or another repeat offender causing another death or another violent tragedy.”

Since the start of the 2020 legislative session, O’Mara and many other opponents across New York’s legislative, law enforcement, judicial, and community safety spectrum have been calling on Cuomo and the Democrat leaders of the State Legislature to immediately delay the implementation of the law that took effect on January 1st.

Their demands for stopping the implementation of the ‘No Bail’ law have been ignored by the governor and the downstate Democrat legislative majorities in both houses of the Legislature.

O’Mara, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “The ‘No Bail’ law has resulted in a statewide jailbreak sending thousands of potentially dangerous criminals back into our communities and neighborhoods, day after day, with no serious safeguards in sight.”

O’Mara has joined legislative colleagues to co-sponsor several pieces of legislation to restore badly needed safeguards, including legislation (S.6853) calling for a one-year moratorium on the implementation of the new laws so that statewide public hearings can be held on the measure.

He has also launched an online “Repeal Bail Reform” petition to give constituents the opportunity to express their opposition.

The “No Bail” action, pushed by Cuomo and legislative Democrats, have raised alarms throughout New York’s law enforcement community. Among other provisions, the new law has eliminated cash bail and pretrial detention for nearly all misdemeanors and nonviolent felony cases, resulting in the mandatory release of 90% of those arrested, regardless of their criminal history.

O’Mara charged that it is creating a system of criminal justice in New York State that releases violent criminals back into the community without supervision and fully capable of threatening their victims, the victim’s family members, trial witnesses, and others.