Vera Institute of Justice (2026)

Albany Strategic Advisors was proud to support our client, the Vera Institute of Justice, in advancing S.8944 (Myrie) / A.10024 (Romero), a bill that gives courts more flexibility to accept negotiated guilty pleas. From the outset, we worked with Vera to help identify sponsors well-positioned to carry the bill — Assemblymember Gabriella Romero and Senator Zellnor Myrie. Because criminal justice reform bills carry real political sensitivity, we helped Vera and its coalition build a broader and more diverse base of support than is typical for this kind of legislation, bringing in institutional partners not usually associated with reform efforts alongside Vera's core allies.

That groundwork paid off on the floor. The bill required navigating a more involved committee process in the Assembly than in the Senate, and we worked closely with Vera's coalition to keep the bill moving and ensure members in both chambers were educated on its merits. Issues and roadblocks arose all along the way and were quickly solved to provide the bill enough time to move through the process in a truncated end of session. The result was a bipartisan floor vote in the Assembly, with several Republican members speaking in favor of the bill — a meaningful signal that helped reassure more cautious members and reflected the strength of the coalition behind it. The bill has since passed both the Senate and the Assembly and now awaits action by the Governor. We remain engaged alongside Vera and its partners in advocating for a signature.