In Time of California's Prison Crisis, Prop 36 Is Solution

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Margaret Dooley
Drug Policy Alliance

Just days after signing off on a plan to spend billions on prison expansion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will release his revised budget proposal for Proposition 36, California’s voter-enacted, treatment-instead-of-incarceration program. Prop. 36 has proved over and over again to improve Californians’ lives, save taxpayers money and reduce the burden on our prison system.

The governor should heed the advice of a recent state-funded report by increasing funding for Prop. 36 drug treatment to $228.6 million.

The analysis released last month by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, found that the program requires at least that amount to provide adequate treatment and to help generate even greater cost savings. At the same time, a Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report showed that a reduction in Prop. 36 funding would increase prison costs.

Prop. 36 has already graduated 70,000 Californians, saved taxpayers $1.7 billion, and reduced the number of people incarcerated for simple drug possession by one-third (5,000 people). With adequate services, it could do even better.

Even before UCLA recommended $228.6 million as the minimum annual funding level, there was consensus among doctors, treatment providers and advocates, and county governments that Prop. 36 needs more funding, not less. Only a substantial funding increase can provide adequate treatment and continue to expand this program’s documented cost savings. We hope the governor’s May revise will reflect this broad consensus.

The governor’s January budget proposed slashing Prop. 36 funding from $145 million to $120 million, while diverting half of those funds into an “Offender Treatment Program” (OTP) requiring a 1-9 county match. At legislative budget hearings, treatment providers and local governments have vocally expressed their displeasure. And in addition to showing that funding cuts to Prop. 36 would increase prison costs, the LAO also pointed to some prospective legal concerns regarding the shifting of funds from the Prop. 36 trust fund into OTP.