SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- By a strict party-line vote, Onondaga County legislators today passed a resolution urging the state legislature to amend bail reforms that took effect Jan. 1 by restoring the ability of judges to impose bail for low-level offenses if they deem it necessary.

The county’s resolution also seeks to relax the 15-day deadline for police and prosecutors to turn over trial-related materials to defense attorneys, saying it has imposed new personnel costs on the county.

Supported by Republicans and opposed by Democrats, the resolution was a purely symbolic request to state lawmakers. Nevertheless, it sparked nearly two hours of passionate debate, including speeches from nine members of the public who defended the new bail reforms. About two dozen people held a rally before the meeting to oppose the county resolution.

Republican county legislators argued that the state’s new bail and discovery laws urgently need fixing, despite having taken effect only a month ago.

Legislator Debra Cody, R-Salina, pointed out that even Democrats like Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City have called for judicial discretion in setting bail for defendants who pose a danger to public safety. The new bail law does not allow the imposition of bail for many low-level crimes.

"This is not a partisan issue,'' Cody said.

But several Democratic lawmakers -- and most of the speakers from the audience -- said the calls to amend the law just 35 days after it took effect seemed to be motivated more by fear-mongering than facts. If the state law needs to be tweaked, time will tell, they said.

Some Democrats argued that the county’s resolution sent the wrong message to residents of poor and minority neighborhoods, where there is a long history of “victimizing poverty” by keeping people in jail if they can’t raise bail while awaiting trial.

"What this resolution tells people in my district, which is predominantly black and brown communities, is that this legislature doesn’t care about them,'' said Legislator Vernon Williams Jr., of Syracuse. "This legislature cares more about what the DA says.''

The resolution, which passed 10-6 (with one absence), asks the state legislature to "suspend or amend'' the new bail and discovery reform laws. The key amendments recommended are to restore judicial discretion to impose bail for low-level crimes, and to lengthen the deadline for turning over discovery materials from 15 days to 45.

Rick Trunfio, first chief assistant district attorney, told legislators the tighter 15-day discovery deadline is overwhelming the county’s forensic scientists, police and prosecutors.

"It’s impossible,'' he said. "The statute was not properly drafted with regard to what are the time frames that are actually workable.''

Amid all the passionate back-and-forth, every speaker at the legislative session agreed on one point: The state’s previous system of bail was in need of reform. Whether the state legislature got it right last year was another matter.