Pubdate: Sat, 7 Mar 2009
Source: Times Union (Albany, NY)
Copyright: 2009 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/forms/emaileditor.asp
Website: http://www.timesunion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)

SENATE PUTS OFF DRUG REFORM ISSUE

Democratic Plan to Shift Action to the Budget Avoids GOP "Soft on 
Crime" Charges

ALBANY -- Seeking a politically safe path, and possibly lacking the 
votes to tackle the measure on its own, the state Senate's Democratic 
majority plans to roll Rockefeller Drug Law reforms into its larger 
budget proposal to be taken up later this month.

News that Democratic senators, who control their chamber 32 to 30, 
won't cast individual votes on drug law reforms came on Friday, less 
than two days after Assembly Democrats passed the measure. Senators 
spent several hours behind closed doors Wednesday night grappling 
with the issue.

Drug law reforms, which would remove some of the mandatory sentencing 
requirements for possession of hard drugs and give more discretion to 
judges, have been passed repeatedly in the Assembly, which Democrats 
control 109 to 41.

But this year marks the first time in more than four decades that 
Democrats also have a majority, albeit slender, in the Senate. 
Advocates had hoped that would mean easy passage of the reforms.

But Senate Republicans, who hope to retake their chamber in 2010, 
have made it clear they would cast Democrats as soft on crime if they 
voted for the reforms.

Senate Democratic spokesman Austin Shafran said it would be wrong to 
assume his conference doesn't have the votes to pass a stand-alone 
drug reform law. "It's clear that it's as much of a budget issue as 
it is a sentencing issue," he said, noting that both confining people 
in prison and treating them on the outside carry financial costs.

Nonetheless, putting the reforms into a budget bill takes some 
pressure off individual Democratic senators, especially those from 
rural areas where the reforms would likely mean the loss of prison 
jobs, and in suburbs where law-and-order issues can be potent.

Despite that, placing drug reforms in a budget which would have to be 
voted up or down in total brings its own set of risks. A fight over 
drug laws could conceivably hold up the entire budget process if 
Republicans are able to convince two or more Democrats to join them 
in opposition.

"Our position is these bills should be taken up on the merits and not 
folded into a budget bill," said Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif.

In one respect, Senate Democrats are placing the ball in Gov. David 
Paterson's hands: The governor -- who supports Rockefeller law reform 
- -- has more latitude to control policy through the budget process.

"Typically, the governor would include language and the legislature 
would vote it up or down," said Robert Ward, deputy director of the 
Rockefeller Institute of Government, which is part of the SUNY system.

But as Ward noted, the Democrats' strategy "adds another complication 
to a budget picture that is already quite complicated." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake