Earlier on Jan 31st, Governor Kathy Hochul, joined by District Attorneys from across New York State, announced a series of improvements and essential changes to streamline New York’s Discovery Laws. Governor Hochul proposed these common sense reforms as part of her 2025 State of the State and are intended to end procedural delays and prevent automatic dismissals of cases. The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York overwhelmingly voted yesterday to endorse the Governor’s plan during their annual winter conference as it would give their offices the tools and resources needed to protect the rights of victims and hold perpetrators accountable, while safeguarding the right to a fair and speedy trial. This proposal aligns with the Governor’s record investments in recent years in proven crime prevention initiatives as efforts continue to see lowering crime rates across the State.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

So proud to be here this morning with the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York for one of their meetings. The organization is led by Staten Island's own Mike McMahon. And Rensselaer County's Mary Pat Donnelly will be taking office in June at the next meeting, so she's the incoming president. And I do want to say at the outset, I have relied so much on the advice and the life experiences of the people standing behind me as part of this organization.

We've been through many challenges and we're always trying to find the right balance in the performance of justice, because that is what we're all expected to do. And their advice, their counsel, their tweaks to laws or whole ideas for laws are really important. I want to tell them I'm grateful for that partnership. It really means a lot because we are all here to fight for public safety. That's what our job is.

But today we're going to talk about a subset; and that is the issue of recidivism. And we're continuing to see a real urgent problem: a revolving door of criminals who are arrested and then let out on technicalities, free to commit crimes again. There's one example — there's so many examples, but there’s one example — where someone slashes a stranger on the subway and the court had to dismiss the case because they said the prosecutors took too long because they were looking for a medical record from the victim that the victim had forgotten about.

Unrelated to the circumstances, but that was the technicality that allowed that case to be thrown out and that individual to get out again. It's hard to believe. And that's the sort of unacceptable outcome that we've seen all over, and we're trying to address that. And it goes back to the discovery laws that were passed in 2019.

Now, I understand why the reforms were necessary. Everyone deserves a fair, speedy trial. But those changes went too far, and legitimate cases are being dismissed on technicalities. That's why I proposed in my Budget this year new language to streamline the process, keeping the just intent while allowing us to crack down on the real criminals.

And I'm proud to announce that DAASNY has endorsed my proposal to protect our victims and crack down on recidivism by streamlining our discovery laws. And briefly, my plan would eliminate the incentive to delay discovery challenges so cases are no longer delayed and then dismissed on a technicality at the last moment.

We also want to allow prosecutors to certify compliance with discovery laws after turning over all the evidence, without having to wait for a subpoena. We'll expand the scope of automatic redaction, so there's no lengthy litigation necessary to protect sensitive data, like addresses or phone numbers. All these take time while the clock is running. And we'll also reduce the 48 hour notice to 24 hours, helping areas that don't really have grand juries.

Now, fixing these loopholes will at least be a step in the right direction to stopping the revolving door of people who are arrested, as I said, and released on a technicality. And it's part of an overall strategy to put our focus on fighting crime and protecting the victims of those crimes in communities far and wide. The individuals here represent every corner of the State of New York.

And I'll also say this: We did change the bail laws to crack down on repeat offenders and restore judges discretion, making previously excluded crimes bail-eligible, like hate crimes and gun offenses. We've also delivered more than $1 billion in public funding since I became Governor just three and a half years ago, investing in our district attorneys. And the money — whether it's the $40 million we invested to help them comply with discovery laws, whether it's the money we've given them to go after retail theft, the money we've gone after for domestic violence — I want them to know that they need to have the resources in their offices. Offices that are traditionally primarily funded by the counties. And I'm a former county official, I know how this works.

But there are times when your counties do not have the resources they need, or your borough does not have the resources, and that's where we can step in as a state to give you the additional assistance to comply with state laws, and also to give you the support you need.

So, I'm proud of what we're doing here today. I'm proud to have your support, and we need to take your voices and your experiences and your examples of where these cases have gone on the wrong track — almost shocking people with the outcomes — and take those messages to our State Legislature, share with them what you've encountered and talk to them about how this is a common sense reform that is overdue. It's part of our quest to make New York State even safer, because again, public safety is our number one priority.

At this point I want to offer the podium to our President of the Association, Staten Island District Attorney, Mike McMahon.