PATAKI HAS NEW PROPOSAL TO REVISE DRUG LAWS

ALBANY -- Officials in Gov. George E. Pataki's administration started
circulating a proposal tonight that they said they hoped would lead to a
new state drug-sentencing law within months.

Lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly said they had not seen the details and
withheld specific comment. The proposal was sent late on a day when the
Legislature is out of session and is not expected to return until the fall
at the earliest.

The bill was the first concrete step after weeks of talks over efforts to
change the Rockefeller-era laws governing sentencing of drug offenders. The
hopes to revise the laws have risen and fallen over the past two and a half
years, capped last month with an unusual meeting during the legislative
session's waning moments when the rap impresario Russell Simmons met for
more than seven hours with the governor and two top legislative leaders.

Even with the new flurry of activity today, a resolution is not certain. "I
haven't seen it, I don't know of anybody who has," said Charles R. Carrier,
a spokesman for the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Democrat. "We will
look forward, with interest, to reviewing it."

John E. McArdle, a spokesman for Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority
leader, a Republican, said he knew about the bill but had not seen it,
either. "The governor spoke with Senator Bruno and described the proposal,
but we are waiting to see a draft," he said. Mr. Simmons, the founder of
Def Jam records and an unlikely ally of the Republican governor, said he
was pleased that Mr. Pataki was trying to change sentences for minor drug
offenses, which all sides in Albany agree are too harsh.

While reserving final judgment on whether to endorse the proposal, Mr.
Simmons said that, in his view, it largely reflected the terms hammered out
in the seven-hour meeting at the close of the legislative session.

"I know that there is some question by some people on the left, and some
people on the right, about this bill," Mr. Simmons said, adding that the
governor told him he did not think the proposal would succeed without his
support. "I don't know what the Assembly will do, or the Senate, but we
know that we are very close to endorsing it and probably will endorse it
tomorrow." Mr. Simmons said he was still gathering opinions on the details.

The 69-page proposal, though written by the governor's staff, reflects a
combination of ideas, thoughts and approaches on how to revise the drug
laws in a balanced way, said one administration official. It was delivered
by hand in both houses and was to be sent to the city and state bar
associations on Tuesday.

"We believe this bill reflects an agreement that both the Senate and
Assembly can support based on the meetings that we've had," the official
said. "This is a reasonable and fair bill and one that reflects compromise.
This is not a negotiating standpoint; this is our last best hope to achieve
reform."