Online petition calls for repealing bail reform law: O'Mara says governor, legislative leaders failing to recognize danger to public safety

Elmira, N.Y., January 14—State Senator Tom O’Mara has launched an online “Repeal Bail Reform” petition giving area residents a chance to express their opposition to the newly enacted, controversial state law.

“Governor Cuomo and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities are responsible for this bail reform disaster and refuse to recognize the danger it’s posing every single day to our communities and neighborhoods,” said O’Mara, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  “These so-called ‘reforms’ as they stand are nothing more than a jailbreak sending potentially dangerous criminals back into our communities and neighborhoods, day after day, with no safeguards. Democrats keep shrugging off the warnings and that’s irresponsible, to say the least.”

The actions, pushed by Cuomo and legislative Democrats, have raised alarms throughout New York’s law enforcement community.  Among other provisions, the new law eliminates 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.

Last week in Albany the Senate GOP proposed a repeal amendment, which O’Mara co-sponsored, that was defeated along party lines.  O’Mara noted that the controversial bail reform law was enacted last year without the support of a single Republican in the Senate or Assembly.

The senator 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. 

O’Mara is encouraging Southern Tier and Finger Lakes residents who oppose the law to sign the petition HERE.

O’Mara said, “We need to keep delivering the message that this is a bad law, it’s dangerous, and our communities and the law enforcement community as a whole deserve better.  We will keep highlighting the danger and keep pushing for a more commonsense, safer, and workable solution that achieves the necessary reforms but that protects public safety as priority number one.”