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Open dialogue among community members is an important part of successful advocacy. Take Action California believes that the more information and discussion we have about what's important to us, the more empowered we all are to make change.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Three Strikes Legislation Passes Assembly


Three Strikes Legislation
Passes Assembly


Just now, Assembly Bill 327 (Davis), the bill to put an initiative on the ballot to amend the California Three Strikes Law, passed the Assembly.  The bill now moves to the Senate for a vote in the policy committee. For the full language and analysis of the bill clickhere

Monday, January 30, 2012

Metro Board approves Project Labor Agreement for Metro Construction Projects

Thursday January 26, 2012

The unanimous approval by the Metro Board of Directors sets in motion a local and national hiring requirement to provide skilled workers, a commitment to no work stoppages, and the ability to implement a targeted hiring program aimed to provide jobs to economically disadvantaged workers.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors unanimously approved, Jan. 26, a plan to help increase the number of workers from disadvantaged areas to be hired to work on the agency's transit and road projects.

The Project Labor Agreement (PLA) between Metro and the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council is believed by Metro to be the first of its kind for a transit agency in the United States. Under the PLA, 40 percent of work hours on Metro projects would be done by workers who live in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and 10 percent of the hours going to workers struggling with poverty.

Many members of the public testified in favor of the plan, most hewing to a simple message: times are tough, they're unemployed and they need a job "not just to survive, but to live."
Los Angeles Mayor and Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa voiced praise for the PLA, saying he believes the program will create a path for workers to the middle class.

"I am proud that the MTA Board voted unanimously to become the first transit agency in the nation to use federal and local dollars to create jobs targeted at economically disadvantaged communities and individuals," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "This landmark program is part of a strategy to deliver public transit projects while creating jobs that will lift people out of poverty and into the middle class."

Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Mark Ridley-Thomas said after the vote that the rest of the nation now has the chance to follow Metro and create jobs in places where they are most needed by building transportation infrastructure.

"Today's unanimous vote by the Metro Board was an historic win for workers," he said. "As a result of this groundbreaking victory, Los Angeles is now a model for the rest of the nation. We have demonstrated that job creation -- and not the creation of just any jobs, but highly skilled union jobs that lead to a middle class lifestyle for workers -- can and should be a standard component in transportation infrastructure projects."

What is the Project Labor Agreement?

The Project Labor Agreement (PLA) is an agreement negotiated with the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council and approved by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors that will help facilitate the timely completion of transit and highway projects in Los Angeles County. These projects are largely being funded by Measure R, a local half cent sales tax approved by LA County voters in November 2008. However, many of the projects will also be leveraged with federal monies.

Under the PLA, local construction trades unions will serve as the primary source of labor to supply thousands of skilled workers to these construction projects in an industry that has been especially hard-hit by the recession. The PLA requires that 40 percent of the work hours be performed by workers who live in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, with 10 percent of the work hours going to individuals who are struggling with poverty, chronic unemployment and other hardships. The PLA contains measures to facilitate entry into critical apprenticeship training for those targeted workers seeking employment in the construction industry. For projects that rely 100 percent on local funding, hiring can be targeted for Los Angeles County. Targeted hiring measures for any project using federal monies are national in scope.

Many public agencies across the nation have entered into project labor agreements. The Metro PLA is unique in that Metro is the first transit agency in the nation to adopt a project labor agreement for federally funded projects. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is in the process of reviewing the agreement. Also, the targets for hiring workers from depressed areas are higher than the targets in similar agreements involving other Los Angeles government entities.

How it works

The Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council will be the primary source of all craft labor employed on the construction contracts for the various projects. In the event the unions are unable to fulfill the labor requirements of the contract within 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, employers may hire qualified applicants from any other available source.
Consistent with Federal and state laws governing public works compensation workers would be paid prevailing wages. A no-strike provision ensures the work is completed under tight deadlines. The PLA does not preclude non-union workers from getting these jobs, nor does it exclude non-union contractors from participating in the projects.

The Construction Careers Policy provides guidelines to Metro staff and contractors, subcontractors and employers to implement the PLA and targeted hiring measures on Metro construction projects.

Why it's important

The PLA covers all MTA transit and highway projects with a cost of over $2.5 million, which - if Metro fully implements its Long Range Transportation Plan - could amount to as much as $70 billion in construction work over the next three decades. The PLA ensures a skilled and trained workforce that is paid prevailing wages to get these projects done on time and on budget.
The construction industry throughout the nation is depressed and communities are suffering from extraordinary and harmful levels of unemployment and poverty. The PLA and Policy help remedy these problems by directing opportunities to those individuals and communities who need them most.

Who will be hired?

The PLA requires that 40 percent of construction work hours be performed by targeted workers and 10 percent of construction work hours be performed by disadvantaged workers.
  • Targeted workers include economically disadvantaged individuals who live in areas where the annual median income is less than $40,000 per year.
  • Disadvantaged workers means any individual who meets the income requirements of a targeted worker and faces at least two of the following barriers to employment: is homeless; is a custodial single parent; receives public assistance; lacks a GED or high school diploma; has a history of involvement with the criminal justice system; has experienced chronic unemployment; is emancipated from foster care; is a veteran of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars; is an apprentice with less than 15% of the hours required to graduate to journey level.
Each contractor or subcontractor may bring up to five core workers to work on a covered project.
Registered apprentices participating in joint labor/management apprenticeship programs will comprise at least 20 percent of the workforce.

Apprenticeship Participation
  • At least 20% of total work hours will be performed by apprentices.
  • The Building Trades will exert their best efforts to recruit and assist individuals in qualifying and becoming eligible for joint labor/management apprenticeship programs.
  • The Building Trades will work cooperatively with the U.S. Dept of Labor, the contractor's Jobs Coordinator, Work Source Centers, and other non-profit entities, to identify or establish and maintain effective programs and procedures for persons interested in entering the construction industry.
  • The Building Trades and the contractors will support the development and graduation of local and/or disadvantaged workers and apprentices that reside within the targeted areas.
Who will be involved in recruitment and hiring?
  • Contractors, sub-contractors and employers who have successfully bid on the project will engage a qualified Jobs Coordinator to assist the employers in meeting the targeted hiring requirements. The Jobs Coordinator will assist with outreach to targeted workers.
  • The Unions will be the primary source of all craft labor employed on the construction contract for the project. In the event the Unions are unable to fulfill the labor requirements of the contract within 48 hours during business hours, employers may hire qualified applicants from any other available source.
  • The Unions will recruit and identify targeted workers and workers referred by the contractor's Jobs Coordinator for entrance into the labor/management apprentice programs and assist applicants in qualifying and becoming eligible for such programs.
  • The employers and the Unions agree to coordinate with the Center for Military Recruitment, Assessment and Veterans Employment to reach out to veterans interested in entering into a construction career.
Jobseeker assistance:

Los Angeles /Orange County Building Trades Council is actively providing assistance to residents who are seeking employment in the construction trades. In order to meet the requirements of the PLA, contractors working on Metro construction projects will be looking for qualified workers.
http://lite.metro.net/news/simple_pr/Metro-Board-approves-PLA-for-Metro-Construction-Pr/

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

L.A. County supervisors approve jails funding application

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday approved applying for $100 million in state funding to potentially pay for jail construction.


Some county officials have advocated a $1.4-billion plan to replace the overcrowded Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles and part of the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, although several supervisors have balked at the price tag.

Supervisors have not decided whether to approve that plan or whether to pursue less costly alternatives. But they agreed to apply for the state funding. The county could later withdraw its application.

Several dozen protesters at the meeting urged supervisors not to approve any funding for jails, saying the money could be better used elsewhere.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Bill to Amend California's Three Strikes Law Passes Appropriations Committee


via The Criminal Justice Information Network
A project of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ) Foundation and CACJ

Bill to Amend
California's Three Strikes Law Passes Appropriations Committee  

On January 19th, AB 327 (Davis), a bill to amend California’s Three Strikes Law cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 327 must pass the full Assembly by January 31, 2012. If AB 327 passes the Assembly, the bill will move to the Senate where it will have until June 28th to pass the Senate policy committee, the Senate fiscal committee, and the Senate Floor.

The bill would put an initiative on the ballot to require that the “third strike” of the California Three Strikes Law be classified as “serious” or “violent”.  Assemblymember Mike Davis, whose district includes a portion of the city of Los Angeles and Inglewood, amended AB 327 to carry the current language on January 4, 2012. For the full language click here.
  
More than 24,500 nonviolent offenders are serving two or three times what they would have served if they have not been convicted under California’s Three Strikes Law. Many of these offenders are serving life sentences. For example, nonviolent crimes such as possession of a controlled substance, filling out a false DMV application, and petty theft are crimes that can put someone behind bars for life under the current Three Strikes Law.

AB 327 would give voters the opportunity to revisit the original goal of this law amidst the current fiscal and prison overcrowding crisis.

There were four organizations that testified in support of the bill at the committee hearing: California State Conference of the NAACP, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), and Friends Committee on Legislation of California (FCLCA). The two organizations that testified in opposition are: the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) and Crime Victims United of California (CVUC).



If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email Nicole Hudley at nicole@hernandezlaw.org.

Friday, January 20, 2012

FEDERAL JUDGE ISSUES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION THAT CONTINUES STOPPING STATE & FEDS FROM IMPLEMENTING 20% IHSS CUT


CDCAN DISABILITY RIGHTS REPORT

CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
#010-2012 - JANUARY 19, 2012 - THURSDAY

REMEMBERING THE LIFE & WORK OF STEVE ELIAS (Nolo Press Author) AND
KPFA RADIO'S YVETTE HOCHBERG
Advocacy Without Borders: One Community - Accountability With Action
CDCAN Reports go out to over 60,000 people with disabilities, mental health needs, seniors, people with traumatic brain and other injuries, people with MS, Alzheimer's and other disorders, veterans with disabilities and mental health needs, families, workers, community organizations, facilities and advocacy groups including those in the Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, African-American communities; policymakers, and others across the State. 
Sign up for these free reports by going to the CDCAN website.
To reply to THIS Report write:  Marty Omoto at martyomoto@rcip.com  Website: www.cdcan.us   Twitter: martyomoto

State Budget Crisis - Breaking News:
FEDERAL JUDGE ISSUES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION THAT CONTINUES STOPPING STATE & FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS FROM IMPLEMENTING 20% IHSS ACROSS THE BOARD REDUCTION

SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN)  [Last updated 01/19/2012 03:32 PM] -  A federal district court judge in Oakland, as expected, issued a court order that will continue blocking the Brown Administration and the federal government from taking any steps to implement the 20% across-the-board reduction in service hours for hundreds of thousands of children and adults with disabilities - including people with developmental disabilities - and seniors who receive In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).  The reduction would have also impact hundreds of thousands of IHSS workers.   US District Court Judge Claudia Wilken issued the court order - called a "preliminary injunction"  during the hearing held today in her court room in Oakland.   The State will likely appeal the court order.    The order issued today by Judge Wilken remains in effect unless a higher federal court - in this case the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or the US Supreme Court decides to reverse it or if Judge Wilken decides at a later date to modify (change) it in some way. 

Judge Wilken issued on December 1st a temporary restraining order that blocked the reduction from taking place until a she decideD whether or not to grant a more permanent order to stop the cuts from being implemented.  The preliminary injunction granted by Judge Wilken - requested by those filing the lawsuit (IHSS recipients) - means that the State federal governments would still be blocked from implementing the IHSS 20% cuts.   In issuing the temporary restraining order in December, Judge Wilken had found that the reductions violated federal law and likely would, if implemented, cause immediate significant harm to people with disabilities and seniors in the IHSS program who would be impacted by the cut in service hours.  

Judge Wilken heard today from attorneys  representing IHSS recipients and the Brown Administration in the lawsuit "David Oster, et al v. Lightbourne", ("Oster" is an IHSS recipient and "Lightbourne" is Will Lightbourne, the director of the California Department of Social Services, the state agency that oversees statewide the IHSS program).  The case was previously titled  "V.L. v.Wagner" ("V.L." was the initials of an IHSS recipient and "Wagner" is the name of the previous director of the Department of Social Services). 

The lawsuit was filed by Disability Rights California (DRC), Disability Rights Legal Center, National Senior Citizens Law Center, the National Health Law Program and San Diego attorney Charles Wolfinger on behalf of the IHSS recipients. The union plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which include five SEIU locals and United Domestic Workers-AFSCME, represented by law firm of Altshuler Berzon LLP.

20% Cut Part of the 2011-2012 State Budget "Trigger Cuts"
*  The 20% across-the-board cut in IHSS hours amounting to a reduction of over $100 million in State general fund spending in the remaining months of the 2011-2012 State Budget year (and continue into the following budget year) was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2012 but never was implemented due to the temporary restraining order that was issued in December.  The 20% reduction did include several exemptions to the cut for certain eligible persons in the IHSS program.  With the court order issued today - the State and federal governments are still blocked from taking any steps to implement the cut for now. 
*  The reduction was part of the $1 billion in "trigger cuts" that were part of the 2011-2012 State Budget that was pulled because the State's revenues fell significantly below what was budgeted last June. 
*  Among the other state budget "trigger cuts" included $100 million reduction in state general fund spending to the developmental services budget for the 2011-2012 State budget year that ends June 30, 2012 - with another $100 million covering the 2012-2013 State Budget year.       
*  The 20% across-the-board reduction is in addition to other cuts and major changes to the IHSS program Governor Brown proposed as part of his 2012-2013 State Budget.

HELP - VERY URGENT!
PLEASE HELP CDCAN CONTINUE ITS WORK!!!

CDCAN Townhall Telemeetings, CDCAN Reports and Alerts and other activities cannot continue without YOUR help. To continue the CDCAN website and the CDCAN Reports and Alerts sent out and read by over 55,000 people and organizations, policy makers and media across the State, and to continue and resume CDCAN Townhall Telemeetings, trainings and other events, please send your contribution/donation (please make check payable to "CDCAN" or "California Disability Community Action Network" and mail to:


CDCAN - 1225 8th Street Suite 480 - Sacramento, CA 95814
Many, many thanks to all the organizations and individuals for their continued support that make these reports and other CDCAN efforts possible. [
Note: As of June 26th due to major problem with my computer and email, I have to use this old format of the CDCAN Reports that unfortunately does not have the list of people and organizations who have generously contributed and supported CDCAN in the past year and in recent weeks and months.  I should have computer problem repaired sometime soon.- Marty Omoto]



How California's lifers are dying inside

via  www.guardian.co.uk


In 1981, when Randall Ellis was 16 years old, he participated in a robbery in which his co-defendant shot and killed a young store clerk. Because he took part in a robbery that led to a murder, he was found guilty of the murder and was tried as an adult by the state of California, which chose to impose the maximum sentence the law would allow, of 25 years to life.
Thirty-one years later, Randall is still in prison and his chances of ever being released are slim at best.
There are around 32,000 inmates, 20% of California's total prison population, in the "lifer" category to which Randall now belongs. Approximately 8,000 of them are "three strikes" offenders. Being a lifer means you received a sentence of "15 to life" or "25 to life", so you must serve out the 15 years or the 25 years (or whatever number you were assigned) before you become eligible for parole. These lifers, known as LWPs (life with parole) do not include the much smaller category of prisoners known as LWOP (life without parole) who committed crimes so heinous they were sentenced effectively to die in prison. But it appears that the line between LWPs and LWOPs has become increasingly blurred, as so few prisoners are being granted parole in the past 20 years that "to life" is starting to seem an awful lot like "for life".
This means, of course, that the number of older and geriatric prisoners are growing. By the end of 2009, there were 11,000 prisoners over the age of 55. (Prisoners' physiological age tends to be 10-15 years more their chronological age due to the stress of incarceration, so 55 counts as elderly.) This number is expected to triple to over 30,000 within the next decade or so (pdf), which will put extraordinary pressure on a state that is already being bankrupted in part by its overcrowded prisons.
Older prisoners cost about three times as much to incarcerate as their younger counterparts, mostly due to healthcare costs. Whether the general public like it or not, the state is constitutionally obliged by the eighth amendment to provide inmates with adequate healthcare, and the cost of doing so already exceeds $2bn a year. According to Liz Gransee of the Receiver's Office (pdf), which oversees medical care in California's prisons, 90% of their healthcare costs come from the older population. Some of inmates they treat are in their eighties.
Randall turned 47 this month, and although he believes he should have been let out at least ten years ago, statistically, his chances of growing old in prison are far greater than his chance of being released.
"I've been kept here way past any reasonable period of time, considering that I was just a kid in the wrong place, with the wrong people to begin with. Over the years, the justifications have changed. They don't even consider my age, and somehow put me beyond the thinking capacity of a 16 year-old who made bad choices to somehow being beyond that."
I don't know if Randall should have been released ten years ago or not. The parole board obviously has better knowledge of whether or not he may still be a threat to society. He does raise an interesting point, however, that a person's motivations and understanding are very different at 47 than they were at 16. Statistics consistently show thatpeople tend to "age out of crime" (pdf). Nationwide, the recidivism rate for inmates aged between 16 and 29 is over 50%; for inmates 55 and older, the rate drops to 2%, rendering the chance of an elderly inmate re-offending upon release almost negligible.
But still, they remain locked up. In 2008, for instance, 7,308 lifers were eligible for parole. Only 294 were approved by the parole board, and of those, 81 were denied by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more than 30 were sent back for review. In the end, fewer than 60 inmates were released. There has been a slight improvement in the number of paroles granted since Governor Brown took over, but still,more than 80% of requests are denied.
Public safety is generally cited as the reason for keeping people in prison indefinitely, and no one – least of all a politician who will be facing re-election – wants their signature on the parole form of an inmate who murders somebody's loved one upon their release. Considered in that light, granting parole is not a decision to be taken lightly.
But the fact remains that the billions of dollars spent each year keeping prisoners locked up for life are billions being diverted from the kinds of programs that might have prevented them from getting locked up in the first place.
Interested parties should write to:
Sadhbh Walshe
PO Box 1466
New York, NY 10150
Or send an email to sadhbh@ymail.com


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Gov. Jerry Brown plans $1 billion in prison cuts


Sacramento –

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to cut state prison spending next fiscal year for the first time in nearly a decade, a departure from the goals of recent administrations, which consistently increased corrections spending and pushed for prison expansion.

Brown’s budget would save California $1.1 billion on housing inmates and hundreds of millions more by allowing the state to halt some prison construction – savings largely due to his administration’s recent overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system.

General fund spending on prisons nearly doubled under Brown’s Republican predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, from $5.2 billion in 2004 to $9.5 billion in 2011, when Brown, a Democrat, took office. The increase in spending was largely caused by an exploding inmate population and a court order to improve medical care in prisons.

The general fund is backed by statewide taxes and pays for most of the government’s basic programs, including schools, police, welfare services and other programs. A cut in prison spending makes more dollars available for other programs.

“We’re knocking it down, and we’ll knock it down further,” Brown said Friday of the prison budget. “A lot of the problems come from the fact that they built (too many) prisons in 20 years – it was too fast, they didn’t know what they were doing, and now we have to clean up that mess. We made good progress the first year.”
$1 billion savings

Under Brown’s spending proposal, released Jan. 5, general fund spending on the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would decline from this year’s budget of $9.8 billion to $8.7 billion, largely because the state prison population has fallen nearly 1,000 a week since Oct. 1, when the state shifted responsibility for lower level offenders to county law enforcement, a policy known as realignment.

“I don’t think there’s any question we’ve turned a corner here … just by the fact that we are significantly reducing the prison population,” said Daniel Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco, a nonprofit that conducts policy analysis on criminal justice issues.

But Republican Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, a former parole board chairman who has been a vocal critic of realignment, predicted the savings would not last, particularly without more investment in rehabilitative services for criminals. He said that counties will ultimately have to raise local taxes to fully pay for realignment, eliminating any savings for taxpayers.

“It’s frankly not a long-run savings for the state,” said Nielsen, of Gerber (Tehama County). “Corrections spending will go down a little and then creep back up.”

Just one year ago, California was grappling with a court order to reduce its prison population by 33,000 inmates and was moving forward with 13 construction projects to expand prison capacity.

Now, the prison population is at 130,000, a decrease of 11,000 in six months. State officials met the first benchmark set by the U.S. Supreme Court to reduce the prison population and say they are on track to meet the next one as well, as thousands of offenders that would have flowed into the overcrowded system are staying in county jails instead and being supervised by local probation officials rather than state parole officers.

In addition to halting construction projects, Brown next year wants to begin phasing out the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice and place the state’s most violent youth offenders in county facilities. And after years of cuts to rehabilitation programs in prisons, Brown wants lawmakers to restore about $100 million in funding for drug treatment, education and other services.

The governor’s budget proposal, like most criminal justice issues, has prompted mixed reactions.
Worries over funding

Republican critics of the governor’s realignment plan continue to warn that the change will have dire public safety consequences, while county law enforcement officers are still worried about whether realignment funding – $400 million this year and nearly $860 million next year – will be consistent or adequate to meet their expanded responsibilities.

County officials and juvenile justice experts are glad that the governor has proposed putting off severe budget cuts to the juvenile justice system this fiscal year, but they worry about the ability of counties to handle the population in the future.

Advocates who oppose prison spending are heartened by Brown’s decision to scrap several construction projects, but say the governor isn’t going far enough. Under Brown’s proposal, the state would stop the conversion of two former juvenile facilities into adult prisons, which together would have cost nearly $500 million to build. Officials expect to save about $250 million a year in debt service on bonds by canceling those projects.

“For us it’s a mixed bag,” said Emily Harris of Californians United for a Responsible Budget, a coalition made up of liberal groups that advocate for less prison spending. “They are canceling two (prison) expansion projects, and we see that as an important first step toward addressing the bloated corrections budget. … And I think it’s exciting and important that he wants to close the Division of Juvenile Justice.”

She also praised a nearly $50 million investment in grants for county probation departments that are successful in reducing recidivism among offenders.

The proposal to shutter the Division of Juvenile Justice is also significant, said experts in the field. The number of youth offenders in the state system has declined from a high of 10,000 in 1996 to its current 1,100. Now, counties handle most juvenile offenders while the state is charged with overseeing only the most violent juveniles.

Last month, Brown caused alarm among counties and juvenile justice experts when he instituted a $72 million budget cut that would have forced counties to either take back all of their youth offenders or pay the state $125,000 a year to house them.

After hearing the concern, the governor is now proposing to “delay collection” of those payments and work to phase out the Division of Juvenile Justice entirely. Under his proposal, counties would get $10 million to prepare for that change, and, starting next January, youth offenders would no longer be placed in the state system. Those currently in the system would serve out their sentences.

County officials and juvenile experts said they are not ready to support the governor’s plan without more details but are encouraged that he is willing to work with them on developing a way to handle the difficult population.

“We interpret it as a good faith effort on the part of the administration to work with us to mitigate our concerns,” said Elizabeth Howard Espinosa, who handles realignment issues for the California State Association of Counties. “What we saw in the governor’s budget is a willingness to say, look, DJJ is going to be phased out at some point, and let’s use this as an opportunity to plan and develop some programs.”
Taking steps

Macallair, the criminal justice expert, said that all of these changes would not have occurred without the U.S. Supreme Court stepping in but credited Brown for “taking the steps he needs to take.”

The governor agreed and said more work is ahead.
‘Merry-go-round’

“We wouldn’t even be here if the Supreme Court hadn’t issued a definitive order,” Brown said. “It was a big nudge. We still have district attorneys and Republican legislators that get hysterical. … But we have created some stability, we are reducing the head count, we are saving money, and I believe we can be more effective in terms of helping people re-enter society and live more productive lives, instead of being on a merry-go-round of prisons the way it’s been the last 30 years.”

E-mail Marisa Lagos at mlagos@sfchoronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/14/MNEM1MNAFQ.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1jjhAk6eh

Friday, January 13, 2012

Strengthening Our Actions and Voices Through Unity

On November 2, 2011 a historical convening of the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement (FICPM), gathered to adopt a national platform. Several hundred people attended this convening in Watts, California. Prior to the November 2nd Gathering, formerly incarcerated and convicted people consistently sought each other out for several years to discuss our needs, which lead into a historical gathering and march hosted by TOPS in Alabama and the development of a Steering Committee that worked on the platform for over nine months. It should be noted that A New Way of Life, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and All of Us or None performed an extraordinary job with hosting people from all over the country. There were representatives from 20 states, Washington DC, England and Japan. Over 40 different grassroots organizations attended this gathering. Needless to say, it is remarkable that the Steering Committee continues to meet to further develop tools and a structure for this network.
Our platform is alive, and the week leading up to the November 2nd Gathering was preceded by a Peace and Justice Summit in Long Beach, California, organized by A New Way of Life and All of Us or None. This event was one way of informing more than 300 formerly incarcerated and convicted people that the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted Peoples’ Movement was coming to Watts.  It should be noted that since our gathering, our efforts to end structure discrimination have raised the cry to Ban the Box in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Richmond, California. By strengthening our actions and voices through unity, we will dismantle the New Jim Crow, and we aim to continue this movement by restoring our civil and human rights. We vow to educate “every wondering mind” that ask the question, “How can we dismantle the disparities in opportunities for employment, housing, social services and end mass incarceration?” We vow to mobilize and organize a movement of the 65 million people that have been tagged as formerly incarcerated and convicted people to challenge their oppression.  Our victories will continue to grow and we need to learn better how to continue to connect our dots and our victories. We recognize that formerly incarcerated and convicted people are pursuing justice all over the country and we need to shine a light on our victories and our movement.    
Once again, we elected to gather our forces in a community challenged by the brutal conditions of oppression, the Watts Labor Community Action Center (WLCAC). We agreed to engage this system through the democratic process and we will register a million formerly incarcerated and convicted people and their families. We pledged to each other that we will not only engage in the registration put actually push people to exercise their right to vote.
Great minds from every corner of activism, advocacy and service provision stepped up and seriously considered movement development. There was one was real challenged to everyone that has ever worked on behalf of formerly incarcerated and convicted people:  could they loosen the grip enough to see if these birds could really fly?  Could they allow formerly incarcerated and convicted people to DECIDE on a platform about them?  This was one of the few gatherings where formerly incarcerated and convicted people were asked to vote on a document that was written by them and designed to be the basis of a movement about their interest. We want to thank our families, friends, comrades, allies and colleagues for allowing us to join our movement and the human family. To those people who were not able to attend, we ask you to consider the platform that we adopted.  Our effort is dedicated to those people who are currently incarcerated and to those people who stood up for us before we knew how to stand. Our efforts are design to enlarge the circle and our community and not shrink it, and to unify our movement and not divide it.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Three Strikes Reform Initiative for November 2012 Ballot

Families to Amend California's Three Strikes - FACTS is circulating petitions to qualify a Three Strikes reform initiative for the November 2012 ballot!!  Under this reform only those third strike is violent or serious will get a life sentence.  If you are interested in getting involved in collecting signatures, please contact us at 213.746.4844

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Urge that the Senate Rules Committee recommend to the California Senate the confirmation of Michel Florio, Mark Ferron, Catherine Sandoval

Please join us in recruiting organizations in your regions to email 3 letters of support to the Senate Rules Committee by January 11— one each to support the confirmations of Catherine Sandoval, Michel Florio, and Mark Ferron to the California Public Utilities Commission.  The more letters received by the Senate Rules Committee, the stronger the case to confirm the three candidates at the Senate Rules Committee hearing, likely to be scheduled for January 18.

Together, the 3 Brown appointees provide a rare opportunity for a majority of the 5–member CPUC to be comprised of members who take seriously the CPUC mission to provide safe and reliable utility service at fair and reasonable prices.  During the past few months the new Commissioners have been responsible for several decisions in which the public interest has prevailed over industry interests, including opening an investigation of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, rejecting a PG&E customer service charge, and compelling utilities to share with ratepayers the benefits of federal economic stimulus funding.  During the next few months, they will decide upon LifeLine affordability and expansion to wireless, profit rates guaranteed to utilities, and PG&E fines for the San Bruno explosion.

Commissioner Sandoval is a law professor specializing in telecommunications policy at Santa Clara University, and has served as a senior manager at the FCC.  She was born in East LA, becoming the first Latina in the U.S. to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and the first person of Latino descent to be appointed to the CPUC.  

Commissioner Florio developed his reputation as California's foremost consumer advocate during the 33 years (1978–2011) he worked as the senior energy attorney at TURN.  He was raised in the Midwest, became the first in his family to attend college and law school, and is possibly the most experienced person ever appointed to the CPUC.  

Commissioner Ferron has over two decades of banking and business experience from a European perspective that embraces the value of regulation as a balance to industry dominance.  He worked his way through school growing up in the Midwest by working in factories, and brings to the CPUC an expertise in financial markets with a sense of humanity.

Here are 3 sample letters of support for each of the 3 CPUC appointees up for confirmation. Please feel free to modify anything that you desire.

Letter 1
January 11, 2012

Honorable Darrell Steinberg
Chair, Senate Committee on Rules
California State Senate
State Capitol, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95816

Dear President pro Tempore Steinberg,

I am pleased, on behalf of _____________________________, to submit this letter of enthusiastic support for the confirmation of Michel Florio as Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission.  __________________ is a ______________________ organization that ________________________________.

Commissioner Florio offers a unique depth of experience and expertise that qualifies him to serve as an effective CPUC Commissioner.  His 33–year tenure from 1978 to 2011 as TURN Senior Energy Attorney provides him with an exceptional appreciation of how energy policies impact both the utility industry and everyday consumers.  His expertise on the challenges of maintaining a sustainable system of energy procurement, transmission, and distribution was honed when he served as a member of the Board of Governors of the California ISO from 1997 to 2005.  His reputation as a problem solver has been earned from years of bringing together consumers, utilities, and energy generators to seek common solutions that resulted in SB 695 reforms as well as broad–based settlements in key energy policy procurement issues.

Commissioner Florio brings a sensibility to the CPUC rooted in community and accomplishment.  He was raised in the Midwest as the son of a machine repairman who worked in a rock quarry.  He was the first in his family to not only receive a law degree, but to attend college at all.  It seems only fitting that he was appointed by Governor Brown as one of the most experienced regulatory experts to serve as CPUC Commissioner in its 100–year history.

The most important reason that we support the confirmation of Commissioner Florio is because he has demonstrated his leadership commitment to the CPUC mission of providing safe and reliable utility service at fair and reasonable prices.  While he has had to recuse himself from recent key votes pertaining to PG&E rate cases because of his previous participation as a consumer attorney in those cases, recent examples of his willingness to exercise independence from the CPUC leadership include:

1)      Commissioner Florio joined Commissioners Sandoval and Ferron in voting for an investigation of the impact on California ratepayers of the proposed AT&T/T–Mobile merger, and voted against President Peevey’s alternate proposal, which would not have analyzed the California-specific impacts of the merger.

2)      Commissioner Florio has taken the lead in expanding CPUC oversight of gas safety, requiring PG&E to conduct extensive pipeline inspections and document retrieval, and reversing the policy of not fining utilities for safety violations—resulting in a $36 million fine of PG&E for the deadly Rancho Cordova explosion.

We strongly urge that the Senate Rules Committee recommend to the California Senate the confirmation of Michel Florio as CPUC Commissioner because of his leadership experience, accomplishments, and willingness to defend the public interest to deliver the cleanest energy and best phone service at the lowest prices to consumers.

Sincerely,
(Your name)

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Letter 2

January 11, 2012

Honorable Darrell Steinberg
Chair, Senate Committee on Rules
California State Senate
State Capitol, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95816

Dear President pro Tempore Steinberg,

I am pleased, on behalf of _____________________________, to submit this letter of enthusiastic support for the confirmation of Catherine Sandoval as Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission.  __________________ is a ______________________ organization that ________________________________.

Commissioner Sandoval offers a wide range of leadership experience and expertise that qualify her to serve as an effective CPUC Commissioner.  Her positions as a professor specializing in telecommunications law at Santa Clara University since 1994, and a senior manager at the FCC from 1994 to 1999, provide her with a research–based expertise in telecom policy issues.  Her expertise in energy policy issues was developed when she served as Undersecretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency from 2001 to 2004 and advised the Agency Secretary on energy matters when she served on the California ISO Board of Governors.

Commissioner Sandoval brings a sensibility to the CPUC rooted in community and accomplishment.  She was raised in East Los Angeles in a bilingual Spanish and English environment, and became the first person in her family to graduate from a four–year college.  She is the first Latina in the United States to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University.  It seems only fitting that she was appointed by Governor Brown as the first person of Latino descent to serve as a Commissioner on the CPUC in its 100–year history.

The most important reason that we support the confirmation of Commissioner Sandoval is because she has demonstrated her leadership commitment to the CPUC mission of providing safe and reliable utility service at fair and reasonable prices by casting votes different from that of the CPUC leadership.  For instance:

1)      Commissioner Sandoval joined Commissioners Simon and Ferron in voting for a CPUC Judge’s Proposed Decision to deny a new PG&E $3 monthly customer service charge, saving most customers $1 billion over the next 3 years, compelling President Peevey to join the majority and withdraw his Alternate Decision to grant the customer service charge.

2)      Commissioner Sandoval joined Commissioners Florio and Ferron in voting for a thorough investigation of the impact on California ratepayers of the proposed AT&T/T–Mobile merger, and against President Peevey’s alternate proposal in which an expedited and more superficial investigation would have been conducted. 

We strongly urge that the Senate Rules Committee recommend to the California Senate the confirmation of Catherine Sandoval to Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission because of her leadership experience, accomplishments, and willingness to defend the public interest to deliver the cleanest energy and best phone service at the lowest prices to consumers.

Sincerely,

(your name)
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Letter 3

January 11, 2012

Honorable Darrell Steinberg
Chair, Senate Committee on Rules
California State Senate
State Capitol, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95816

Dear President pro Tempore Steinberg,

I am pleased, on behalf of _____________________________, to submit this letter of enthusiastic support for the confirmation of Mark Ferron as Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission.  __________________ is a ______________________ organization that ________________________________.

Commissioner Ferron offers a wide range of leadership experience and expertise that qualify him to serve as an effective CPUC Commissioner.  His 24 years of service as an international banker provides him with the experience necessary to evaluate the costs and risks associate with running a business that delivers safe and reliable utility service.  For the past two years, he has supported the role of nonprofits in advancing positive policy reforms through his involvement with Silicon Valley Social Ventures, a collaboration of 100 families who pool their resources to promote effective organizations. His two decades living in Europe has given him an appreciation of the positive effects of government regulation to provide a balance to unfettered markets.

Commissioner Ferron grew up in a small Midwestern town, worked his way through school by cleaning up in a metals-working factory, working grave-yard shifts at a 24/7 plastics factory and tutoring kids in Math.  He comes from a family of 5 kids, and now has 5 children of his own.  One of his chief motivations for getting involved in the work of the PUC is to try to hand over a decent environment for children who will live with the world we have created. It seems only fitting that Governor Brown has appointed him as a financial markets expert with a sense of humanity to serve as CPUC Commissioner.

The most important reason that we support the confirmation of Commissioner Ferron is because he has demonstrated his leadership commitment to the CPUC mission of providing safe and reliable utility service at fair and reasonable prices by his willingness to exercise independence from the CPUC leadership.  Two recent examples include:

1)      Commissioner Ferron joined Commissioners Sandoval and Simon in voting for a CPUC Judge’s Proposed Decision to deny a new PG&E $3 monthly customer service charge, saving most customers $1 billion over the next 3 years, compelling President Peevey to join the majority and withdraw his Alternate Decision to grant the customer service charge.

2)      Commissioner Ferron joined Commissioners Sandoval and Florio in voting for a thorough investigation of the impact on California ratepayers of the proposed AT&T/T–Mobile merger, and and against President Peevey’s alternate proposal in which an expedited and more superficial investigation would have been conducted.

We strongly urge that the Senate Rules Committee recommend to the California Senate the confirmation of Mark Ferron as CPUC Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission because of his leadership experience, accomplishments, and willingness to defend the public interest to deliver the cleanest energy and best phone service at the lowest prices to consumers.

Sincerely,

(Your name)