By VALERIE BAUMAN
Associated Press

ALBANY - Senate Republicans want to make it more difficult for violent offenders to receive parole in New York and to improve the process of notifying victims that a prisoner is facing the parole board.

Republican Sen. Majority Leader Joseph Bruno introduced legislation Tuesday in response to what he says is a philosophical shift in parole practices since Gov. Eliot Spitzer took office.

Parole boards last year released about 18 percent of eligible violent felons, a higher rate than the 12 percent paroled in 2006 under former Gov. George Pataki.

The legislation would require at least three parole-board members to conduct parole hearings for inmates convicted of class A violent felonies. It would also require a unanimous vote for parole in these cases instead of the majority vote currently required.

If passed, the bill would require the state Division of Parole to provide a list of inmates along with their parole eligibility dates on the agency Web site. The site would also have to allow victims of all crimes to register to receive notice when the offenders in their cases will face the parole board.

Michael Balboni, the deputy secretary for public safety, rejected notions that the parole board has changed its practices since Spitzer became governor.

Parole officials said that of the 399 violent offenders who were released to parole supervision between 2005 and 2007, none has been returned to prison for a new crime.

Bruno accused Spitzer of being "very soft on criminals" and blamed him for the increased parole rates for violent offenders.

"The overwhelming majority of appointees now serving on the state Parole Board were appointed by former Governor George Pataki and confirmed by the Republican-led Senate," Spitzer spokesman Errol Cockfield said in a written statement. "Recent parole decisions are exclusively the actions of this board, which evaluates each case on its own merits. Attempts to distort these facts are blatantly political."

It's unclear whether the Democratic Assembly would support the measure.

"The Assembly's goal has always been to keep communities safe," said Sisa Moyo, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. "We have helped enact the toughest crime laws in a generation. We have not seen any legislation, only a press release."