Albany Times Union

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill expanding the state’s DNA database to include misdemeanors in addition to felonies. Left out of that list of crimes: first-offense misdemeanor marijuana possession, a crime that Assemblywoman Barbara Clark [corrected] noted scoops up a disproportionate number of black and Latino youths.

In a Red Room jam-packed with law enforcement officials and victims advocates, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pressed the case for his expansion of the state DNA database to include samples from all misdemeanor and felony convictions — and resisted calls to expand the legislation to include other criminal justice reforms.