Mayor Eric Adams is heading to Albany tomorrow to state his case for criminal justice reform and cracking down on traffic deaths.
Adams is making his annual trip to Albany to outline the city’s needs in the upcoming state budget and beyond.
The mayor clashed with legislative leaders during his first year in office but both the Assembly speaker and the state Senate majority leader plan on meeting with him Wednesday.
What You Need To Know
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Mayor Eric Adams will meet with legislative leaders and testify before the state budget committee in Albany Wednesday
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Some of the mayor’s top priorities include changes to criminal justice laws and cracking down on reckless driving
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Adams needs Albany to implement much of his agenda
“I am not outlining the friction, or expecting it,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters in Albany. “But I’m sure that, as always, we will continue to work together. We understand how important New York City is. We are not going to agree on everything, but we try.”
Adams has said that two of his biggest asks from Albany this year will be changes to bail reform to address repeat offenders, and alterations to the discovery reform law, which the mayor says is too complicated, leading to trial delays.
“Our legal system must ensure that dangerous people are kept off the streets, innocent people are not consumed by bureaucracy, and victims can obtain resolutions,” the mayor said in his State of the City address on Jan. 26.
Adams is also asking for a package of traffic measures aimed at cracking down on dangerous driving and reducing fatalities in the city.
“We must treat traffic violence the same way we treat other dangerous crimes. We are working with our partners in Albany to advance new legislation called ROADS. That’s stands for "‘removing offenders and aggressive drivers from our streets,’” the mayor said last month.
Like with most big policy changes the mayor is seeking, he cannot do them without state legislation. That makes him very dependent on his relationships with legislative leaders to make them happen. And those relationships have often been fraught.