DISPUTE DIMS HOPE FOR DRUG LAW REFORM

Bipartisan Committee Fails to Agree on Key Points of Progress for Deal
on Changes

The possibility of a legislative deal on drug law reform dimmed Monday
after a bipartisan conference committee ended its meetings without
either reaching consensus or agreeing to extend its public sessions.

"We have to close down this and other issues to end the session in two
weeks," said John McArdle, spokesman for state Senate Majority Leader
Joseph Bruno. "For now, we're not planning on extending this committee."

McArdle said the Senate Republicans want to pass what the committee
has agreed on, and then have staff and individual lawmakers continue
negotiating.

In a statement, committee co-chairman Jeffrion Aubry, a Queens
Assemblyman, and his fellow Democratic committee members called the
Republicans' move disappointing.

"Their suggestion that time does not permit us to continue our open
and public discussion calls into question their overall commitment to
this important issue," the statement read.

The 10 members of the conference committee spent much of their sixth
and final meeting bickering over whether they should reconvene.
Legislative leaders already extended the committee's time limit twice.

As it has been for several years, the main impediment to a final
agreement is Class B drug offenders, who make up the bulk of those
incarcerated on drug charges.

The two sides agree that the highest level, or Class A, offenders
should have their inordinately long sentences reduced and that life
sentences should be abolished. They also concur on sentence reductions
for lower-level -- Class C, D and E -- offenders.

But whether first-time, nonviolent B-level felons should be able to be
diverted directly into treatment rather than serve time in prison, as
the Democrats desire, and whether a judge could make that decision
without a district attorney weighing in, are big stumbling blocks.

The Republicans on Monday argued that the committee should approve
their proposal, which calls for significant sentence reductions for
all but Class-B drug offenders.

"I think we've come a tremendous way," said Sen. Martin Golden,
R-Brooklyn. "We can come back for a fight on the B's."

Each side believes it has moved considerably from its original
position. Democrats gave in on making all drug sentences determinate,
meaning there would be no possibility of parole. Republicans agreed to
address offenders other than Class A's, put drug courts in every
county and expand the state-run Willard Drug Treatment Campus in
Seneca County.

On Monday, the Democrats put forward a compromise plan that included
concessions on judicial discretion in sentencing -- an issue on which
they previously refused to budge. The proposal would allow district
attorneys to request a review of judicial decisions on diversion and
require an administrative judge to "promptly" hear the prosecution's
case.

Sen. Dale Volker, R-Depew, co-chairman of the committee, said the
Democrats should have introduced their plan earlier. Nevertheless, he
said he "remains optimistic" that a reform deal could be reached
"before the year is out."