A Republican bill in the New York House of Representatives would bypass states with liberal policies and give funds directly to police and local governments

A new bill from the Empire State’s Republican delegation would allow federal agencies to bypass states like New York, which have lenient crime policies, and direct law enforcement funding directly to local governments.

The bill, sponsored by upstate Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) and provided exclusively to The Washington Post, would distribute a portion of federal law enforcement funds directly to local governments if states have laws such as New York State’s Clean Slate Act and relaxed bail laws.

“Taxpayers should not have to pay to prop up a regime in Albany that diminishes our security,” Molinaro wrote in a statement to the Washington Post.

“This bill will take funds away from Albany and reinvest them directly into local police, courts and governments that are actually working to restore public safety,” he continued.

The bill is supported by all Republican members of Congress in New York, with one exception.

The bill, which doesn’t provide many details, would require the Justice Department to deny funding specifically earmarked for states if they don’t allow their judges to make bail contingent on a “dangerousness” criterion or if they have “a general policy requiring the sealing of criminal records of serious offenders.”

New York is the only state in the country that does not have a “dangerousness standard,” a law that lawmakers repealed in the 1970s. Last year, the Empire State signed the Clean Slate Act, which seals a person’s criminal past for purposes unrelated to law enforcement and some background checks.

Crime and public safety remain among the most pressing issues for voters in November.

In a poll conducted last month at Siena College, 54% of likely New York voters said crime had increased in the last year.

“If Albany politicians like John Mannion insist on supporting pro-crime policies like cashless bail that fail our families, then federal funds should go directly to the men and women in blue who risk their lives to keep us safe,” Rep. Brandon Williams of Central New York wrote in a statement to the Washington Post about his Democratic challenger, State Sen. John Mannion (D-Onondaga).

It’s a familiar playbook for Republicans. Former Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin campaigned against Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022 by focusing heavily on crime. Since then, Democrats have been trying to regain ground on the issue of public safety.

Josh Riley, the Democrat trying to defeat Molinaro for the second time, has previously stated that he supports the Clean Slate Act.

“There’s a lot we need to do in the criminal justice system, both to keep our community safe and to make sure we address many of the inequities we’ve seen over the years,” Riley said in an interview with WSKG News in 2022.

“We should fully fund law enforcement. I will continue to support efforts that achieve that goal,” Riley wrote in a statement to The Post Sunday.

Even if the Republican bill passes the House of Representatives before the end of the year, it will almost certainly fail in the Democratic-dominated Senate.