Gov. Kathy Hochul turned up the heat Tuesday on fellow Albany Democrats by publicly pushing them to change “absurd” limits on cash bail despite resistance from their legislative leaders.

“We’re talking about protecting society in a way that people would think is common sense. And so many members of the legislature have stepped up in support – others have not,” Hochul said at a Rochester event where she trumpeted a decrease in shootings in the upstate New York city.

The governor has proposed a $277 billion state budget amid rising crime that would make it easier to jail people by removing what she called Tuesday “an absurd standard” requiring criminal defendants get the “least restrictive conditions” ahead of their trials.

Judges, district attorneys and cops claim that standard – approved by Albany Democrats in 2019 – allows dangerous people to go back on the streets even when their alleged offense would have otherwise gotten them locked up as cities from New York City to Rochester have grappled with increased violence in recent years.

“We can’t let data hide the realities of fear because in the neighborhoods that I represent, public safety isn’t a data point. It’s a feeling and when you feel safe, you feel safe. And when you don’t, you don’t,” state Sen. Jeremy Cooney (D-Rochester), who is among the few Democratic senators publicly backing Hochul’s bail effort, said at the event.

“This is a moment for leadership and our governor is sounding the alarm,” he added.

Rochester Mayor Malik Evans also gave his blessing to her bail proposals, which have received support from downstate powerbrokers like Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams.

The upstate event underscored how Hochul, who largely side-stepped bail questions while campaigning last year for a full term in office, has become increasingly vocal on the topic ahead of the April 1 state budget deadline.

The Democratic supermajorities in the state Senate and Assembly are expected to reject Hochul’s proposed bail changes in one-house budget resolutions to be released later this month.

Critics say the upcoming weeks will test how serious Hochul really is about changing bail reform considering the expected opposition from state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx).

“The governor is saying the right things on crime and public safety. We need to make common-sense changes to flawed policies. But the conversations that really matter will take place behind closed doors, with legislative Democrats who wrote the criminal-coddling laws in the first place,” Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Fulton) told The Post.

Neither legislative leader provided immediate comment Tuesday.

Both Stewart-Cousins and Heastie have resisted overhauling controversial criminal justice reforms after approving some changes in 2022 and 2020, with both leaders pointing to crime increases in other states while pushing back at the idea that bail reform is to blame.

“Under Democrat control, Albany has unleashed a pro-criminal agenda that has led to a historic rise in violent crime from Rochester to New York City. The sudden interest in rolling back their cashless bail law has more to do with protecting Democrats’ political safety than promoting public safety,” Ortt said Tuesday. “Time will tell if this lip service results in action to protect New Yorkers.”

Polling shows changing controversial bail laws is appealing to voters following the closest gubernatorial election in a generation between Hochul and Republican Lee Zeldin, who campaigned heavily on his opposition to progressive bail reforms.

Sixty-five percent of registered voters support giving judges more discretion on whether to jail people pre-trial, according to a Siena College Poll, but just 43% said in a February Siena poll they approved of how Hochul has handled crime.

A whopping 92% of respondents to the February poll said crime was either a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem in New York.

Both Stewart-Cousins and Heastie have pointed to a national increase in crime while defending the reforms they championed in past years, with both conferences expected to reject Hochul’s proposed bail changes in one-house budget resolutions later this month.

And while highlighting support from moderate legislators like Cooney – who flipped a longtime Republican seat in 2020 – could help Hochul make her bail case to the general public, experts say the real action will happen behind closed doors in upcoming weeks.

“The governor is trying to use a classic Bill Clinton-style triangulation strategy against progressives in the legislature, but there’s a big difference when your party controls both houses of the legislature,” Democratic political consultant Doug Forand said. 

“Members in more purple districts are likely to stand with her for their own politics, but that doesn’t guarantee that her proposals will move in the full legislature or even come up for a vote.  For that, she needs to negotiate with the legislative leaders, and that’s not a game you win in the press,” he added.