Legislators and formerly incarcerated mothers rally for sentencing reform bills

Criminal justice advocates made a Mother’s Day push for sentencing reform in Albany on Monday. With a focus on incarcerated moms and mothers of incarcerated people, they are putting pressure on state leaders to take action on a series of bills that would take on excessive sentences. But with just a month left in the scheduled legislative session, the languishing bills still face an uphill climb.

Advocates, impacted individuals and lawmakers gathered in the state Capitol to show support for a package of three bills: the Earned Time Act, Second Look Act,, and Eliminate Mandatory Minimums Act. The Earned Time Act would make it easier for people to earn time off their sentences through good behavior and enrolling in programs like vocational training. The Second Look Act would permit judges to reevaluate excessive sentences and consider imposing new, more lenient ones. And the Eliminate Mandatory Minimums would, as the name suggests, get rid of mandatory minimum sentences, like those for drug offenses.

“We have a very harmful legacy when it comes to sentencing laws in New York,” said state Sen. Julia Salazar, sponsor of the Second Look Act and chair of the Senate Crime, Crime Victims and Correction Committee. “It is extremely important that we pass the Second Look Act so that judges can reconsider sentences that were unjust and not in the interest of justice.” State Sen. Jeremy Cooney, sponsor of the Earned Time Act, also spoke at the Mother’s Day rally, noting that time is running out to pass the package of bills this year. “I am here, asking all of us, to have a renewed sense of urgency,” he said. “Three weeks is not a long time, but it’s doable.”

This is the third year in a row that lawmakers and advocates have attempted to get the bills passed. But while other criminal justice pushes have seen some success, sentencing reform has largely languished. None of the bills have ever made it out of committee – the Second Look and Eliminate Mandatory Minimums Acts are both stuck in the Assembly and state Senate’s Codes Committees, while the Earned Time Act is in the state Senate Crime, Crime Victims and Correction Committee and the Assembly Correction Committee.

Salazar and Cooney said that they met with state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins last week about getting their bills on committee agendas before lawmakers go home for the year. “I think the leader heard me, it’s a matter of us continuing to do the work in the conference in both houses to ensure that we have enough support for these bills,” Salazar told City & State.

Marquee criminal justice reform bills have often taken years of advocacy before ultimately being passed. The Clean Slate Act, for example, took three years to pass out of both chambers of the Legislature. First introduced in 2020, it came close to passing in 2021 as part of a larger deal, and the state Senate approved it in 2022, but the Assembly did not follow suit until last year.

An older push for parole reform has also seen only limited success. In 2021, lawmakers approved the Less is More Act, one of a series of parole reform bills that takes time off one’s parole in exchange for good behavior. But two other pieces of legislation addressing parole reform – the Fair and Timely Parole and Elder Parole bills – have not yet passed the Legislature, despite years of advocacy. They have seen limited movement over the past two years. Lawmakers moved Fair and Timely Parole out of the state Senate Crime, Crime Victims and Correction Committee last week. Last year, both bills also advanced out of their Assembly committee, though only the Fair and Timely Parole bill moved out of the Senate committee, and neither bill ever made it to a floor vote.