Sen. Jeff Klein said details of the plan are still being worked out but they agreed that discussions with the Assembly and governor remain productive. | AP Photo Two-court juvenile system emerges from leaders' meeting

ALBANY — Talks on raising the age of criminal responsibility — a flash point in this year’s budget — appear to be coalescing around a two-court solution, according to legislative leaders Wednesday.

“There would be family court for less-serious cases, and the youth court would be for the more serious cases,” Sen. Jeff Klein, leader of the eight-member Independent Democratic Conference, said after leaving a meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “We’re still trying to figure out a way to balance the dynamics of the judge in these cases as well as the district attorneys’ role.”


Klein, speaking with Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, said details of the plan are still being worked out but they agreed that discussions with the Assembly and governor remain productive and they remain optimistic for an on-time budget.

Discussions over the court structure and the degree of input prosecutors have in determining to which court a case is directed have delayed an agreement on this issue. There also is disagreement over which crimes are eligible for family court adjudication.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, emerging later from the same meeting with Cuomo and Senate leaders, said he wanted to clear up any “misconception” over what a youth court would look like.

“The youth court I would say — from where we are — would just be a mechanism, and in some cases a temporary mechanism, before the children go to family court,” he said. “So the idea that there’s a total separate court to handle all cases for 16- and 17-year-olds, that’s not correct.”

When asked about proposals to revive the 421-a real estate tax abatement program and workers’ compensation reforms backed by Flanagan and the Republican conference, Heastie responded, “we’ll see what happens.”

Heastie also said there had not been any “concrete conversation” on Cuomo’s stated reluctance to raising taxes.

“I think that right now the discussion has been a lot more on the policy and some of the spending items,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ve had a concrete conversation yet on revenue at this point.”