New Orleans court does not currently offer confirmation testing, which may lead to punishment based on false positives
Council members appear supportive of the plan, proposed by the Vera Institute for Justice last month. But a prominent crime watchdog group and the Orleans DA have criticized jail population reduction efforts.
The agreement comes after a two-year civil rights lawsuit against Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell over how he was setting bail.
Only highest-risk defendants would be jailed under the plan. Judges would impose $1 bail for crimes that require cash bail under state law. The group says the proposal would save the city millions in funding for the jail.
At least 59 people were jailed for contempt in 2018 based on questionable drug tests, watchdog group says.