Outline of Prison Deal to be Voted on Tomorrow by California Legislature

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

More details are emerging on the deal that has been agreed upon by the leadership of both parties in the California Assembly and State Senate to deal with state prison overcrowding. The bill, AB 900, is not in print and may be considered in “mock up” form [cut and paste] tomorrow. The Assembly will vote first at an unusual 8:30 a.m. session followed by the Senate at 10:30 a.m.

The total amount of state money that will go to prison and jail construction under the bill will be $7.4 billion. This compares to over $10 billion that had initially been proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger. Revenue bonds and a lease arrangement will be used to finance this, which, over the 25 years to repay that is provided will cost in the neighborhood of $14 to $15 billion over those years, for a rough estimate of $600 million per year coming out of the state’s General Fund.

This is a revenue bond because it can be passed, with a 2/3 vote and does not need to be submitted to the voters for approval which would come next year. This device was used because of a pending Federal Court hearing on May 16 and other federal cases that are pending on other issues involving medical treatment.

There is no sentencing or parole reform in the bill. There are provisions for rehabilitation of prisoners and the State Auditor, Inspector General, and an appointee of the State Judicial Council will be charged with assuring that benchmarks have been reached on rehabilitation issues before the later stages of the bill will be funded. If, and until they are reached, there will not be funding of the second and third stages contemplate. The bill provides for an additional 4,000 drug treatment beds, which is a big increase considering that there are only some 9,000 beds at present in the system. Current beds are not filled and there will be monitoring to ensure the actual use of the beds.

The women’s facility proposed in recently defeated legislation by Assembly Speaker pro Tem Sally Lieber are not in the bill.

For the jail construction provided, local governments will be required to provide a 25% match of funding.