PATAKI ACTS TO REFORM DRUG LAWS

Election Year Gives Advocates Hope For Broader Change

ALBANY -- The Pataki administration has revved up its efforts to negotiate
a rewrite of New York's drug laws, floating a new proposal and putting on a
full-court press by its criminal-justice chief.

Talks have intensified during the last three weeks as Gov. George E. Pataki
has made a push to get changes during this election year, lawmakers said.
The Republican offered a new plan giving judges more leeway in sentencing
and more power to order drug treatment.

This is Pataki's third proposal since he made rewriting the drug laws a
cornerstone of his 2001 State of the State address. Advocates for reform
said Pataki's plan doesn't go far enough, yet it demonstrates a new urgency
to get something done.

"It's enough of a change to show they're serious," said former Sen. John
Dunne, who 29 years ago sponsored the state's mandatory sentencing laws but
is now a leading reform advocate.

Change in the Air

Even lawmakers who don't support an overhaul said the political grounds are
shifting. Republicans, who control the state Senate and have resisted
changes, are drawing up a new proposal for smaller-scale reform.

"We're hoping that we can do something this (legislative) session," said
Sen. Dale Volker, R-Depew, Erie County, chairman of the Senate Codes
Committee, which oversees criminal statutes.

Chauncey Parker, who became Pataki's criminal-justice chief earlier this
year, said he's been working full time on the issue. "This is the No. 1
priority the governor has set for me," Parker said.

Enacted under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in 1973, New York's drug laws are
considered among the nation's harshest. Offenders can receive life terms
for possessing or selling even small amounts of narcotics. The laws grant
judges little discretion on sentencing people convicted of certain felonies.

Since their enactment, the laws have contributed to the growth in the
number of state prisoners. The prison population mushroomed from 12,500 in
1973 to 71,472 in 1999, but has now dropped off slightly. About 21,000
inmates are serving time for drug convictions. There were 20 state prisons
in 1973, compared to 71 currently.

'This is the Time'

Opponents of the laws say the measures haven't curbed drug use and have
disproportionately affected minorities, who account for the bulk of drug
convicts.

Opponents rallied at the state Capitol this week on the anniversary of the
enactment of drug laws. They said the political climate gives them more
hope for change. As Pataki campaigns for re-election, he has sought support
of minority groups.

But the chances are slim Pataki will deliver many goodies in the state
budget. So a drug-law rewrite is the item many groups most want, activists
said.

"He's never been more aggressive than this year. So this is the time to
bring all the pressure we can on the governor," said the Rev. Clarence
Grant of the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in New York City, one of the
activists who lobbied this week.

"I believe that after the (political) conventions, you will see a more
active African-American and Hispanic community" pressing the issue, added
the Rev. Glen Missick of the African American Council of the Reformed
Church. The conventions are set for the end of May, about three weeks
before the end of the legislative session.

Pataki's new proposal has three planks:

* Giving a judge the opportunity to overrule when a district attorney
denies a non-violent drug offender the chance to go into treatment rather
than prison. This would apply to first- and second-time offenders,
convicted of lower-level crimes -- "the overwhelming majority" of
offenders, Parker said.

* Decreasing sentences and eliminating Parole Board discretion over some
sentences. For example, someone convicted of an A-1 felony, the most
serious kind, faces a minimum sentence of 15 years to life and a maximum of
25 years to life, with the Parole Board determining when to release him.
Pataki would change the sentence to 10-20 years.

* Boosting penalties when a gun is involved. An offender would face an
additional five-year sentence.

The governor would not change the threshold weights that determine what
level charge a person faces.

The Democrat-led Assembly wants to double the threshold weights, give
judges all authority over putting someone in drug treatment and make an
offender eligible for parole after serving one-third of his sentence.

Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, the lead sponsor of reform bills in
that house, didn't immediately return calls to comment.

Volker said the Senate will support giving more money for drug treatment.
However, he said senators would resist breaks for second-time felony
offenders. And he acknowledged that regional and philosophical differences
could block a deal. Downstate, liberal legislators want bigger changes than
what upstate, more conservative lawmakers can stomach.

"I don't think what downstaters want is something upstaters can do," Volker
said.