MOVES TO OVERHAUL NEW YORK DRUG LAWS

ALBANY, Aug. 31 -- Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican with a
tough-on-crime record, promised this year to soften New York's most severe
tough-on-crime laws: the mandatory sentences for drug offenses passed in
the 1970's.

The so-called Rockefeller laws, passed in an era of rampant crime and a
heroin epidemic, required a 15-year-to-life sentence for the top class of
drug offenders, known as Class B, which means people convicted of
possessing at least four ounces of cocaine or heroin or of selling at least
two ounces.

The vast majority of people arrested on drug crimes are charged with Class
B felonies.

In recent years, with the state's crime rate at historic lows, pressure to
ease or even repeal the laws has grown. Many of those serving long
sentences are black and Latino, and many maintain that the laws, as
enforced, discriminate against their ethnic groups. More than 21,000 people
are serving time for drug convictions in New York State, about 95 percent
of whom are black or Hispanic. About 70 percent were convicted of
nonviolent crimes.

Mr. Pataki's initial bill met stiff opposition in the Democratic-led
Assembly, because it still required a sentence of at least 10 years for the
top class of offenders. Though that is less mandatory prison time than in
the old law, judges would still have no discretion to divert offenders to
treatment without a prosecutor's approval.

The Assembly majority countered with a bill that would have given trial
judges complete discretion over the nonviolent Class B felons. That bill
had no chance in the Republican-controlled Senate.

After several months of deadlock, the governor came back with a bill that
would have allowed the diversion of some drug offenders to treatment
program s in prison. But instead of giving the trial judge discretion, the
bill would have sent these defendants to a specially trained judge, who
would have ruled on their eligibility for drug treatment based on several
strict criteria.

The Democrats rejected the second proposal as well, for many reasons. They
thought it set up too many hurdles for the Class B felons, like the hearing
before a judge with expertise on drug addiction. Some sections of the bill
also gave prosecutors more power, allowing them, for instance, to pull a
defendant out of drug treatment and put him on trial if he relapsed into
his habit once. Since most addicts relapse at least once before recovery,
Democrats saw that provision as dooming the program to failure.

Still, many on both sides of the issue predict that a compromise bill will
pass this year, once the governor and legislative leaders agree on a
budget. Democrats pushing for an overhaul see this year as a rare
opportunity to get the governor to help them.

The main reason is that Mr. Pataki is running for re-election next year and
has been trying to make inroads among black and Hispanic voters. Groups
supporting the repeal of the laws have been running ads in all the
Spanish-language newspapers and television and radio stations urging the
governor to deliver on his promise.