March 17, 2026 · Public Protection / Criminal Justice / Judiciary · 1,570 words · 4 speakers · 16 segments
Okay, we are starting. Good afternoon, everybody. I am Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz, and I am the chair of the Codes Committee. And we are at the 2026 General Budget Conference Committee, Joint Budget Subcommittee, Public Protection, Criminal justice and Judiciary. So we have with us on the assembly side, as I'm lost in my place. Okay, here, Assemblymember Levine, who is the chair of our Judiciary Committee, Assemblymember Delon, who's chair of the corrections committee, Assemblymember McDonald, chair of our Governmental Operations Committee, as well as assembly members Powers and Moreno. And on the minority side, assembly members Riley and Bailey.
Okay, Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Senator Zelenor Myhre, chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Codes, and the co chair of the Joint Budget Subcommittee on Public Protection, Criminal justice and Judiciary. I'd like to introduce those who have joined us today. To my immediate right is Senator Shelley Mayer, who chairs the Education Committee, but is a member of several of the relevant committees. We're also joined by Senator Julia Salazar, who is the chair of the Corrections Committee, and Senator Palumbo, who is the ranker on several of the relevant committees as well. I will now the most exciting part, go over the Joint Budget Subcommittee guidelines. Are you ready? Am I okay to just jump in?
We're ready.
Okay. Fantastic. All right. The co chairs shall determine all matters of parliamentary procedure unless otherwise specified by these rules. Any dispute with regard to procedure that cannot be resolved by the co chairs shall be referred back to the General Conference Committee and shall be resolved by the co chairs of the General Conference Committee. Co chairs shall each designate a staff person to serve as secretary for the purpose of taking minutes. An alternate may participate in a subcommittee meeting but shall not vote upon any deliberations of such subcommittee unless he or she has been designated to fill an excused vacancy in such subcommittee. Such designation shall be made by the co chair of the General Conference Committee representing the house in which the excused vacancy exists. If such vacancy is in a minority seat on the subcommittee, then the designation shall be made upon the recommendation of the respective houses, minority representative of the General Conference Committee. Such designation shall be made as soon as practical as practicable by the appropriate co chair by providing notice to the other co chair of the General Conference Committee. An excused absence as the General Conference Committee may be filled by temporary designation of a member by the co chair of the General Conference Committee representing the House in which the excused vacancy exist. No subcommittee members or alternate members shall be permitted to participate via proxy. Subcommittee shall restrict their deliberations to their respective subject areas as determined by the General Conference Committee. Any issues which are determined to be non germane by the CO chair shall be referred back to the General Conference Committee. Each member shall be permitted a reasonable period of time as determined by the co chairs to discuss any matter germane to the subject area of the subcommittee. And finally, no report shall be filed except upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of each House's delegation on the subcommittee. Shamir McCain will serve as the Recording Secretary for the Senate.
And I would like to also announce and introduce Jordan McMaster who will serve as the Recording Secretary for the Assembly. Now, the agencies to be discussed at the Public Protection Joint Conference Committee are Judiciary, the Office of Court Administration, Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Division of Criminal Justice Services, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Office of Indigent Legal Services, the Department of Law, Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Division of Military and Naval Affairs, Office of For the Prevention of Domestic Violence, Division of the State Police, Office of Victim Services. And before I go on, if there are any other members who feel the need to say something briefly, now would be the time. No one. No one. Okay. Senator. Member riley.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today on behalf of the Assembly Minority Conference. As we enter the final stages of budget negotiations, we reiterate the importance of those discussions. Discussions happening on a five way basis to ensure that the diverse perspectives of all New Yorkers are fully represented and valued. The Assembly Minority has prioritized its commitment to safeguarding the public safety of all New Yorkers by advocating for common sense policies, working closely with law enforcement agencies and collaborating with communities to address the diverse needs. One of the things we'd like to raise is it's disappointing that both majorities excluded the death gamble pension benefit. Despite unanimous passage from this body over the past several years, the Governor has said that this needs to be considered within the context of the budget. So now is the time to act. Enacting this benefit would also serve as a strong recruitment and retention tool for those considering a career in public safety. I look forward to working together through an open and transparent process to enact on time an on time budget that exercises fiscal restraint and addresses public safety for all New Yorkers.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Thank you. I would like to offer the same opportunity to the Senate Minority.
Thank you, Chairman. Just a couple of different subject matter areas that I'd like to address. The first one is through DCJS is the Motor Vehicle Theft and Insurance Fraud Fund that was created in 1994. It started out as a dollar fee that everyone Pays for an insured vehicle. Now it's $10. It's up to $125 million annually. And I appreciate the governor now trying to revamp this and our house also making some attempts as well. But I do have some real concerns with conflating and combining all of the fraud into separate statutes and making several changes to the insurance law. Quite frankly, this was supposed to have been used, some of it for the state police, but the large or started out as a smaller proportion. Now it's basically been none. This board hasn't met in many, many years. They haven't even had a quorum since 2023. And they've basically been giving this generally to the state police, this funding and not using any of it for a specific task force to fight insurance fraud. Insurance fraud is a problem. Everyone completely agrees. However, the mechanism has failed. Through dcjs, we need to fully fund this group. They need to actually meet and do their job and not just keep sweeping this money into the general fund for the state police. Because of course, every state police officer has something to do to an extent with auto theft and fraud, but not a specific focused task force. That's a big concern. One other thing, very briefly, we sound like a broken record. We're on our fifth iteration of bail reform. We just had an issue in Suffolk county, where I'm from, where some individuals had Molotov cocktails and none of that was a bail eligible offense. The possession of a weapon charge, which is really the only charge, the only appropriate charge ended up in them being released. Two of them were undocumented, which are significant risks of flight. So we're on our fifth version of bail reform. It's still broken. We need to have some judicial discretion. I'm sure everyone's heart is in the right place regarding public safety. That's one of the most important things we can do as a legislature. But we need to work harder. We need to fix that. And thank you for your indulgence, Chairman. I appreciate the ability to comment.
We look forward to collaborating with the Senate and the executive to sustain critical funding for public safety in New York. Our priorities include additional support for civil legal services, parental representation, justice involved youth and victim service providers. We also aim to invest in reentry programs that help individuals successfully reintegrate into their communities after the release from state correctional facilities. Additionally, we support expanding problem solving courts throughout the state, piloting the implementation of the heat mitigation plan at a DOCS facility, providing capital support for volunteer fire departments, and enhancing loan forgiveness for both prosecutorial and defense attorneys.
We also look forward to working with the assembly and the Executive on increasing vital funding for restorative justice, domestic violence, legal services, parental representation and gun violence prevention, Fire Department grants, alternatives to incarceration programs, digitizing parole records, and implementation of the heat mitigation plan at DOC's facilities. We also look forward to discussing the inclusion of establishing comprehensive human rights for pregnant incarcerated individuals and their children while in state correctional facilities and directing the Department of Motor Vehicles to create a process to provide incarcerated individuals and local jails with a state ID prior to release. Staff will continue to be and is currently in consultation with members and will continue to work through the issues.
Okay. And we look forward to seeing all of you at all future meetings of this conference committee. Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.