It won’t be long before we hear about all the problems caused by a late New York state budget.

The budget itself is bad, increasing operational spending 11%, increasing some taxes and failing to deal with out-year structural budget gaps. Spending on education and Medicaid continues to balloon. Rather than rein in the governor, the state Senate and Assembly one-house budgets push spending even higher.

That should be more than enough reason to hold up the budget, but this holdup isn’t about dollars and cents. It’s about policy that should have been dealt with outside the budget. But that’s not the way we do things in New York state. We’re going to spend more – a lot more – and there’s nothing fiscal conservatives can do about it.

So why are we holding up the budget? It’s an issue many here in Chautauqua County – even those looking through the reddest of Republican-colored glasses – likely can find agreement with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is pushing Democrats in the state Legislature to bring some common sense to discovery rules that prosecutors and Hochul say lead to too many cases being dismissed.

Hochul wants to further refine 2019 bail reform laws to make it harder for cases to be thrown out because the state’s nearly impossible to meet discovery rules weren’t met. Hochul sees what we all see – too many cases dismissed on a technicality only to see people back in court for the same crime. The governor said last week discovery rules are one reason domestic violence convictions have decreased from 31% to 6% statewide since the bail reform laws were passed in 2019.

This impasse can’t continue forever, of course. But in our view Hochul is absolutely right. The reason for bail reform was to help those who spent too long in jail because they couldn’t afford bail while they waited for a court date that sometimes took months to come. But the stringent discovery rules have been a boon to defense attorneys and a growing problem for the rest of us as legitimate cases, too often, are thrown out on a discovery challenge that likely wouldn’t have materially affected the case.

This is a fight we’re glad Hochul is fighting – and one we think Republicans should join her in waging.