New York rewrote a central piece of its criminal-justice code in spring 2025, with Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders agreeing in the FY26 state budget to narrow the state’s 2019 discovery-reform law — a change that took effect May 9, 2025 and that prosecutors had pressed for over the objections of public defenders.

What the law does

Discovery is the process by which prosecutors must turn over evidence to the defense. New York’s 2019 reform imposed strict, automatic deadlines and broad disclosure requirements, and tied compliance to the state’s speedy-trial clock — meaning that if prosecutors failed to certify they had handed over everything, a case could be dismissed regardless of its merits.

The FY26 changes recalibrate that machinery along several lines. They add a proportionality standard directing judges to weigh prosecutors’ overall, good-faith efforts and whether any missing material actually prejudiced the defense, rather than dismissing cases over minor or harmless lapses. They narrow the universe of material prosecutors must disclose, eliminating items unrelated to the charges. They allow a case to move forward when prosecutors have exercised due diligence even if some materials remain outstanding. And they require the defense to raise discovery objections earlier and to confer with prosecutors before seeking dismissal.

The budget paired the statutory changes with $135 million for prosecutors and public defenders statewide to support compliance.

Why prosecutors pushed for it

District attorneys across the state, including Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg, argued that the 2019 law had produced an unintended wave of dismissals — tens of thousands of misdemeanor and felony cases statewide thrown out not on the facts but because prosecutors missed a disclosure deadline. They pointed in particular to domestic-violence cases dismissed on technicalities, a category Hochul foregrounded in framing the changes as victim protection.

Hochul cast the package as preserving the rights of the accused while preventing what she called automatic and needless dismissals, and said the goal was to keep New York’s discovery rules among the most open and transparent in the country while closing what prosecutors described as a loophole.

The opposition

Public defenders and defense-bar groups warned that the rewrite tilts the system back toward prosecutors and erodes hard-won transparency. They argued that the 2019 reforms forced prosecutors to actually do the work of turning over evidence — including material that can clear a defendant — and that loosening the dismissal sanction removes the only real enforcement mechanism. A standard that asks whether a missing document “prejudiced” the defense, critics said, can be impossible to satisfy when the defense does not know what it never received.

The clash echoed the long-running fight over the broader 2019 criminal-justice overhaul, which paired discovery reform with bail reform. Both have been perennial targets of rollback efforts.

Bail stays off the table

Notably, the FY26 deal did not reopen the 2019 bail-reform law. Hochul has spoken of working within existing bail statutes and addressing recidivism rather than pursuing a fresh bail rollback, and Democratic legislative leaders have signaled that further changes to the 2019 bail law are unlikely to pass the chambers they control. That left discovery as the criminal-justice centerpiece of the budget — a significant but bounded change to how cases move through New York’s courts, including the high-volume criminal courts of New York City.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

What changed in New York's discovery law in 2025?
The FY26 budget added a proportionality standard so cases aren't dismissed over minor or harmless errors, narrowed the scope of materials prosecutors must disclose, let cases proceed in good faith while some materials are pending, and required the defense to raise discovery challenges early.
When did the discovery changes take effect?
May 9, 2025, as part of the FY26 state budget.
Why did prosecutors want the changes?
DAs, led by Manhattan's Alvin Bragg and others, argued the 2019 reforms led to tens of thousands of cases — including domestic-violence cases — being dismissed on technicalities when prosecutors missed disclosure deadlines.
Did the budget change bail reform too?
No. Hochul focused on discovery, not bail. She has spoken of working within current bail laws rather than reopening the 2019 bail-reform statute, which Democratic legislative leaders have resisted changing.