Over objections from Republican lawmakers, the Legislature plans to take up a majority-vote prison package Thursday that is designed to reduce the state's inmate population by 27,300 and is backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The overall package would save $1.2 billion in part by reducing certain property crimes to misdemeanors, placing low-level parolees on global positioning system monitoring and sending older, infirm prisoners to house arrest or medical facilities to serve the final 12 months of their sentences.
Republican lawmakers particularly oppose the transfer of prisoners during the final year of their sentences, which they consider "early release" and believe would threaten public safety. Schwarzenegger officials dispute that characterization and have said those prisoners would be monitored by GPS or other means.
State lawmakers last month approved a $1.2 billion corrections cut in a budget revision that tackled the state's $24 billion deficit. But those lawmakers, including some Republicans, did so without specifying exactly how the state would save that money in its prison system.
Despite GOP opposition, the Senate plans to vote Thursday on a majority-vote basis to carry out the Schwarzenegger package, which includes ideas that Democrats have supported in the past. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, has not announced when her house will vote, but it is expected to consider the plan the same day.
Lawmakers would have to approve about $630 million in savings proposals. Schwarzenegger would reduce corrections spending by a similar amount using his own authority, such as commuting the sentences of illegal immigrants who are subject to deportation.
"The Senate is prepared to take up the proposal Thursday that we've worked on with the administration for months," said Alicia Trost, spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "There are no early releases. It's alternative custody and a smarter way of looking at the prison system."
Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, questioned whether Democrats have enough votes for the package. He said Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders have not reached out to GOP lawmakers to discuss the plan.
Runner said his caucus disputes the idea that California's prison population is unusually large. He said the state's inmate total of 167,700 is on par with the national average on a per capita basis and the state should focus on building more prisons. "We just do not believe that the current situation warrants the release of anybody," Runner said.
Because Democrats are taking up the plan on a majority-vote basis, it could not take effect any earlier than 90 days after lawmakers approve it - which would be mid-November.
