Senator Brooks Prime Co-Sponsor of Bill Amending Bail Reform Law

Senator Monica Martinez (SD-3) recently introduced S.7156, a bill that would allow each judge to look at the individualized facts of each case and be able to determine if a person should be held pretrial, with safety and flight risk as the top priority. Senator Brooks immediately signed on as a Prime Cosponsor.

Last year, the New York State Senate voted to pass the 2019-2020 N.Y. State Budget, which included The Permanent Property Tax Cap, Education Aid for School Districts, and Aid to Public Libraries among many other items – one of which was the controversial Bail Reform law.

“I am aware that this law sought to address some very real injustices but it absolutely failed in its execution. Put quite simply, it should have been done better,” says Senator Brooks. “ We need to fix these specific fails as soon as possible and that is why I am a Prime Cosponsor of Senator Monica Martinez’s proposed legislation that will institute discretion for judges when it comes to detaining individuals who pose a risk to public safety. “

More changes to the Bail Reform law by Long Island Democratic Senators are being proposed to which Senator Brooks is a Prime Cosponsor as well, including S.7284 by Senator Gaughran that relates to adding criminal facilitation felonies to the definition of “criminal act;” and S.7242 by Senator Kaplan establishing a process for those accused of non-bailable offenses to undergo pre-trial mental health and substance abuse evaluations as a condition of release.

Senator Brooks is introducing his own bill to address additional changes necessary to bail reform. More details will be available soon.