Analyst estimates $100 million more in Prop. 47 savings than Brown

The Legislature’s non-partisan fiscal analyst believes Gov. Jerry Brown is underestimating the amount of savings from Proposition 47, the controversial ballot initiative that reduced some nonviolent drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

The initiative required the savings be used for mental health, drug treatment, truancy and victim services. In a report issued Friday, the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated that the first deposit should be about $100 million more than what the state Department of Finance has accounted for.

In his January budget proposal, Brown set aside $29.3 million for the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund – $62.7 million in savings from inmate and caseload reduction, minus $33.4 million for resentencing and increased parole capacity.

The vast gap is mainly due to different methods for calculating prison costs. Thousands of inmates have been resentenced and released from state facilities under Proposition 47, pushing California’s overcrowded corrections system just under a court-mandated capacity.

Brown’s budget estimates that the average daily inmate population is about 4,700 fewer this year because of the law. But the Legislative Analyst’s Office noted that, to stay below capacity levels, most of those potential prisoners would have had to be contracted out to beds in other states, which would have set the state back an additional $83 million.

The LAO also said the governor is likely underestimate the savings from fewer felony cases being filed and overestimating the cost of reclassifying the records of former offenders who already served out their felony terms.

Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article60119951.html 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article60119951.html#storylink=cpy

This time for real: Legislature passes (another) budget

Three days after Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders reached agreement on a $115.4 billion general fund state spending plan, lawmakers in both houses on Friday ratified the deal.

The budget includes Brown’s more conservative revenue estimates and lower overall spending levels, while increasing funding for preschool and universities and expanding Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented children starting in May 2016.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, said the budget contained “unprecedented gains” in education and social services. The budget also won support from some Senate Republicans, while one Senate Democrat, Holly Mitchell, refused to vote on it. She said the budget did too little to help people living in poverty.

In the lower house, the bill passed almost entirely along party lines, with every Republican except for Rocky Chávez of Oceanside voting against it.

Democrats in the Legislature passed a more expansive spending plan on Monday, knowing Brown would not accept it but racing to meet a June 15 deadline or forfeit pay. They announced a budget agreement the following day on a more modest plan.

While Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, praised the revised budget bill for hewing to Brown's more conservative revenue estimates, she said it redirected education funding to other areas and failed to adequately fund transportation infrastructure or more judges, a major issue in her Riverside County district.

Lawmakers in both houses were continuing to debate a raft of budget-related trailer bills.

Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article24986815.html

Kevin de León joins immigrants to advocate for health care expansion

Health care for undocumented immigrants wasn’t part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget proposal last week, but that hasn’t slowed the campaign for SB 4. The proposal – a priority of legislative Democrats that currently sits in the Senate Appropriations Committee as lawmakers consider the expected annual cost of between $175 million and $740 million – tops the agenda for the 19th annual Immigrant Day. 

Immigrant rights advocates will be at the Capitol to lobby for SB 4, as well as AB 622, which would prohibit employers from using the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration status of current workers or applicants who have not yet received a job offer; AB 953, to expand limits on racial profiling; and a $20 million budget proposal to assist Californians applying for citizenship or deferred action.

The day will kick off at 9:15 a.m. with an interfaith ceremony on the west steps of the Capitol, followed by a rally at 9:45 a.m. featuring state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, and Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville.

Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article21135027.html

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article21135027.html#storylink=cpy

Join us, statewide budget action day!

Join us Friday!

Throughout the state we are rallying to  "tear down the wall of poverty" for California's most vulnerable! Find a location near you and join us!

San Francisco

350 McAllister St.

When: 12:30 PM

Contact: Pete Woiwode, 510-504-9552

pete@communitychange.org

Sacramento

Capitol Room TBD

When: 11:00 am or following Governor Brown's statement

Contact: TBD

San Jose

1381 South First St. 95110

When: 10:00 AM

Contact: Pete Woiwode, 510-504-9552

pete@communitychange.org

Fresno

2550 Mariposa Mall 93721

When:10:00 AM

Contact: Rose Aguste

raguste@healthaccess.org

Los Angeles

300 S. Spring Street 90013

When: 12:00 PM following budget release

Contact: Aurora Garcia, 562-519-3106

agarcia@communitychange.org

San Bernardino

300 N. D Street 92418

When: 11:00 AM

Contact: Maribel Nunez, 562-569-4051

mnunez@communitychange.org

2015 State Budget Release Press Conference & Rally

Join us this Friday, January 9, 2015

11:00 am - 1:00 pm

at

San Bernardino City Hall 

300 N. D Street

San Bernardino, CA 92418 

Brown picks aide to lead troubled California utility board

Gov. Jerry Brown named a former adviser on Tuesday to be the next head of California's troubled utilities commission, replacing a regulatory chief accused of back-channel dealings with utilities.

Michael Picker, a former adviser to Brown on renewable energy and a former board member of a California utility, was Brown's pick to lead the California Public Utilities Commission, the governor's office said in a statement.

The appointment requires state lawmakers' approval.

Picker would replace Michael Peevey

as commission president. Peevey announced in October he would not seek reappointment when his term expires at the end of December, after 12 years on the board.

Emails made public this year by Pacific Gas & Electric Co., California's largest power utility, described Peevey and PG&E officials holding repeated private discussions on rate cases, penalties and other PG&E regulatory matters before the commission, as well as Peevey soliciting donations from the utility for a commission celebration and for a political campaign backed by the governor. Peevey has made no public comment on the conversations contained in the emails.

The email disclosures stemmed from federal investigations and public criticism over a 2010 PG&E pipeline blast that killed eight people in a San Francisco suburb. The National Transportation Safety Board said lax oversight by the state utilities commission was one reason for the disaster.

Federal prosecutors have indicted PG&E for alleged obstruction of justice in that investigation. PG&E says federal and state prosecutors have since informed the utility that they are also examining private communications between state utility regulators and PG&E.

Mark Toney, head of The Utility Reform Network, a public-advocacy group that has been critical of the CPUC and PG&E, said he welcomed Picker's nomination as the board's leader.

"We expect that he's going to stop the backroom deals and start making the decisions based on actual evidence," Toney said.

A Brown aide, Evan Westrup, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Brown's expectations of board transparency under Picker. Brown has publicly defended Peevey, describing him this summer as a man who gets things done.

In a separate interview with The Associated Press this summer, Brown described the emails as "troubling."

Brown noted then that state and federal prosecutors were looking into the communications, and added, "I can tell you, based on my own experience, there are conversations that go on in all these regulatory bodies. It's different than courts. There are rules on it and the rules should be enforced."

Brown first appointed Picker as a commission member earlier this year. Brown on Tuesday also appointed Liane Randolph, a staffer at the state Natural Resources Agency, to the commission.

via: http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/12/23/48869/brown-picks-aide-to-lead-troubled-california-utili/

AM Alert: Should California reduce penalties for nonviolent crimes?

In November, voters will be asked to weigh in on Proposition 47, which would reduce some petty crimes – such as shoplifting less than $950 worth of merchandise and possession of cocaine or heroin – from felonies to misdemeanors.

The goal of the initiative is to cut the state prison population, saving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise be spent incarcerating criminals. An estimated 40,000 offenders would be affected by Proposition 47 annually, instead serving time in county jails or facing no significant time behind bars. The savings would be used for truancy and dropout prevention programs, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and victim services.

Law enforcement groups oppose the measure, arguing it could hurt public safety, but have raised little for their effort. Meanwhile, big money is pouring into the yes campaign, including six-figure contributions from Public Storage executive B. Wayne Hughes, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and Sean Parker of Napster and Facebook fame.

The state Senate and Assembly public safety committees will hold a joint informational hearing on Proposition 47, starting at noon in Room 4203 of the Capitol. After an overview from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, supporters including San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, and opponents such as Harriet Salarno, chair of Crime Victims United, will provide testimony on the measure.

via: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/10/02/6753371/am-alert-should-california-reduce.html

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/10/02/6753371/am-alert-should-california-reduce.html#storylink=cpy

California Proposition 2: Rainy Day Budget Stabilization Fund Act

The Rainy Day Budget Stabilization Fund Act, a ballot proposition on the November 4, 2014 statewide ballot in California as a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, would force the Legislature to put 3 percent of revenue into the rainy day fund. Budget stabilization or "rainy day" funds allow states to set aside excess revenue for use in times of unexpected revenue shortfall or budget deficit (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/state-local/fiscal/rainy-day.cfm).

The measure, upon voter approval, would alter the state’s existing requirements for the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA), as established by Proposition 58. The BSA is a rainy day fund. ACA 1 would also establish a Public School System Stabilization Account (PSSSA). This proposition would require annual transfer of state general fund revenues to the budget stabilization account. It would also require half the revenues to be used to repay state debts. Additionally, it would limit the use of remaining funds to emergencies or budget deficits.

Major provisions of this initiative will:
· Transfer 3 percent of General Fund Revenues to the Budget Stabilization Fund;
· Strengthen Rainy Day fund with “unanticipated revenues”;
· Increase size of the Rainy Day fund;
· Provide flexibility in “Bad Budget Years”;
· Limits the use of Reserve Funds;
· Limits the use of excess revenues not deposited into the Rainy Day fund;
· And prohibits the Legislature from raiding the Rainy Day fund.

As for fiscal impact, the Assembly Budget Committee estimates that: “This provision would result in increased funding in the states’ “rainy day” reserve funds. It would also increase state spending on repaying budgetary borrowing and debt, and infrastructure projects. Finally, the additional reserve would reduce the extent of state cash borrowing, allowing for some savings in the short-term cash borrowing costs.” There would be no impact on the current state budget (http://www.caltax.org/members/Rainy_%20Day_Fund_Initiative_Analysis.pdf).

Read more about the Rainy Day Budget Stabilization Fund here: http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_44,_Rainy_Day_Budget_Stabilization_Fund_Act_(2014)

Optimistic on economy, California lawmakers OK $156.4-billion budget

Flush with optimism from California's resurgent economy, lawmakers approved a $156.4-billion state budget that expands preschool for children from poor families, increases welfare payments and provides critical funding for building the nation's first bullet train.

The state's financial turnaround has allowed the Democratic-led Legislature, with the blessing of Gov. Jerry Brown, to spend more freely just a few years after the recession prompted deep cuts to government services. And if tax receipts outpace expectations, the budget could send even more money to schools, public universities and local governments.

Lawmakers also are addressing more of California's lingering financial problems, stockpiling cash in a rainy-day fund and chipping away at pension costs.

"This is a much brighter day than what we've seen in years past," Senate Budget Chairman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said.

The spending plan — which includes a $108-billion general fund, $7.3 billion larger than last year's — now goes to Brown, who has until the end of the month to sign it. He can still veto items he dislikes.

The budget marks lawmakers' first major effort to combat global warming with revenue from the state cap-and-trade program, which charges fees on polluters when their carbon emissions exceed set limits.

Over the next several years, billions of dollars from those funds could flow to affordable housing, mass transit and environmental programs in a broad effort to get Californians to drive less and consume less energy.

A quarter of the money will be used for building the $68-billion bullet train, a decision that may draw legal challenges from groups that oppose the project and view it as an improper use of cap-and-trade revenue.

Republicans criticized the money for high-speed rail, and Senate Republican leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) called the budget a "missed opportunity."

"You're enacting policies to make California unnecessarily expensive, drive people into poverty and then propose new government programs to subsidize their life in poverty," Huff said.

Long-term costs for public employee retirements and overdue maintenance continue to weigh on state finances, and the budget starts tackling the $74-billion shortfall in the teacher pension fund. Under the plan, schools, teachers and the state will contribute more money to the fund in an attempt to close the gap over the next three decades.

The budget also deposits $1.6 billion into a reserve fund, a down payment on the state's effort to create a cushion for future economic downturns. Voters will have an opportunity in November to approve a constitutional amendment that would set aside money in the fund every year and help pay off the state's debt and long-term costs.

Despite the budget's increasing size, some cuts remain in place. Most notably, doctors who participate in Medi-Cal will continue receiving reduced payments even as hundreds of thousands of new patients enroll in the state's public healthcare program. Brown's resistance to increasing the payments disappointed lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, who fear fewer doctors will agree to care for Medi-Cal patients.

"The Senate wants to do this, the Assembly wants to do this and the governor understands we need to," Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said. "So we are working as of tomorrow to figure out how soon we can do this. But we have to make sure we can pay for it."

Other programs for California's poor are being boosted. Beginning next April, welfare payments for a family of three in such high-cost counties as Los Angeles would increase to $704 per month, up from $670.

Over the next few years, preschool enrollment is expected to increase by 43,000 4-year-olds from low-income families. There's also more money for subsidized child care.

The budget already had been negotiated among Brown and top Democratic lawmakers before Sunday's vote, tamping down the drama in the Capitol. Still, controversy bubbled over a series of new policy proposals that were included in budget-related bills, sometimes after little public vetting.

For example, Brown has pushed new limits on how much money school districts can keep in their reserve accounts. Administration officials say the schools won't need to stockpile as much cash because the state will have its own rainy-day fund, but angry district officials called the proposal a ploy by the powerful teachers union to make more money available while negotiating contracts.

The California Teachers Assn. spent $4.7 million to help elect Brown in 2010 and donated nearly $290,000 to lawmakers, mostly Democrats, for this year's campaigns.

Lawmakers from both parties criticized the governor for inserting the proposal late in the budget process, but Democrats ensured the bill passed.

Another measure approved by the Legislature would modify California's new rules for granting driver's licenses to immigrants here without documentation, eliminating the requirement for applicants to submit affidavits saying they cannot prove legal residency.

Ronald Coleman, a lobbyist for the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the change would provide "peace of mind" that applying for a license won't increase the risk of deportation for immigrants who are here without those papers.

A separate budget-related bill, also approved Sunday, would remove the ban on drug felons receiving food stamps and welfare payments. Democrats say the measure would help former inmates reintegrate into society, but Republicans were critical.

"In what universe does it make sense to give cash benefit cards to drug users?" Huff said.

More budget bills have yet to be considered by the Legislature. Democrats are angling to pass two new taxes, on fireworks and insurance. The levy on fireworks — 10 cents per pound, to be paid by distributors — is intended to finance the safe destruction of illegal pyrotechnics. The other tax — 15 cents per insurance policy for residential and commercial renters — would fund earthquake research.

via: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-pol-state-budget-20140616-story.html

CSU plans to hire 600 to 700 new faculty by fall

The California State University plans to hire 600 to 700 full-time positions by this fall as both the CSU and UC systems struggle to hire more tenure-track faculty in light of recent budget cuts.

California State University San Bernardino College of Education

An allotment of $125 million from the state last year to the CSU system helped fund 470 new faculty positions. The proposed allocation for this year’s budget is $142.2 million each for the CSU and UC systems, although they are requesting an additional $95 million and $124.9 million, respectively. Steven Filling, chair of the CSU Academic Senate, stressed that with the net loss of 59 CSU faculty members last year, more funds are needed to support faculty positions.

“Ideally, we’d get new money for additional faculty and therefore better services for students. Then we wouldn’t have to turn away students who are qualified,” Filling said. “Increase in teachers, increase in classes offered.”

CSU students can expect to see new tenure-track professors in the classroom by fall. But the net hiring impact at the end of the academic year may only be about 250 with retirements and resignations factored in, according to C. Judson King, director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education. Additionally, temporary or part-time positions may be taken over by new tenure-track faculty.

Meanwhile, the UC system wants to use $21.8 million of the extra $124.9 million they are requesting to fund hiring new faculty, buying new equipment and enrolling 2,100 more students, according to UC spokesperson Dianne Klein.

Gov. Jerry Brown previously pushed UC and CSU schools to reduce costs themselves through online courses and flexible curriculum.

“Right now, the state legislature is in negotiations, so we’re hopeful,” Klein said. “(The $124.9 million) is not a wish list, per se. It’s our very best effort, and we’re looking under every rock.”

Caitlin Quinn, 2014-2015 ASUC external affairs vice president, said she hopes the UC system will follow the CSU system’s lead and acquire more funding to prevent departments like Gender and Women’s Studies and Ethnic Studies from shrinking.

“I think it’s good to see a big influx of faculty for the students, and as UC students, we should be in solidarity with the CSU students and advocate for more faculty and funding here,” Quinn said.

The CSU has about 23,000 faculty, including tenure-track, full-time, part-time and temporary positions. According to Filling, the CSU system falls far below meeting the 75 percent tenure-track recommendation of a resolution passed by the state legislature in 2001.

“In the intervening years, we’ve taken more students and the classes get bigger,” Filling said. “When they do, we start to not do as much of the thing that makes that successful, which is develop relationships directly with students.”

via: http://www.dailycal.org/2014/06/03/csu-plans-hire-600-700-new-faculty-fall/

MAY 14TH STATEWIDE DAY OF ACTION

MAY 14TH STATEWIDE DAY OF ACTION

Press Conference and Rally about the Governor's May Revise Budget to highlight the need to invest in Californians and eradicate poverty!

When: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Where: Rosa Parks State Building

464 West 4th Street, San Bernardino

Time: 12:00 noon

Meet The Companies That Just Promised To Pull 60 Million Dollars From Private Prisons

Three investment groups announced this week that they will divest from the two major private prison corporations that constitute a massive share of America’s prison-industrial complex.

Scopia Capital, DSM, and Amica Mutual Insurance have all pledged to remove their collective investments of about $60,000,000 from the Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group — the two prison companies that own 75 percent of the nation’s private prisons. The decision to divest comes on the heels of pressure from Color Of Change, a racial and economic justice advocacy group that ran a campaign asking a total 150 companies to stop investing in the private prison industry.

“In accordance with the principles of the UN Global Compact, with respect to the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, the pension fund has divested from the for-profit prison industry,” DSM President Hugh Welsh said in a Color of Change statement. “Investment in private prisons and support for the industry is financially unsound, and divestment was the right thing to do for our clients, shareholders, and the country as a whole. DSM is committed to good corporate citizenship and operating in a way that contributes to a better world.”

Sixty million dollars is actually a drop in the bucket for GEO and CCA. The groups together earn over three billion dollars annually on private prisons, and even more on immigrant detention centers. But the move signals a growing distrust in the ballooning private prisons industry, which grew by “approximately 1600% between 1990 and 2009,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Other groups have previously reportedly divested, as well, but this may be the largest single successful divestment campaign.

“It’s an important first step,” said Carl Takei, the private prison expert in the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “To the extent that investment firms are committing themselves publicly to divestment, that is a very important step. To the extent that investment firms are deciding that private prisons are a bad investment, that’s even more important.”

CCA lost four of its prison contracts with states last year — and that combined with slowly falling imprisonment rates may actually make private prisons not just morally questionable but financially unstable, Takei pointed out.

“We’ve started to turn the corner on mass incarceration and if that’s something that makes private prisons a bad investment, that’s important,” Takei added. He said that if investment firms chose to divest for ethical reasons, it is “an important first step,” but that “the financial reasons justification would be huge.”

Studies have found that private prisons spend millions on lobbying to send more people to jail for longer periods of time. The facilities are often rife with abuse and neglect, too; accusations against the companies range from wrongful death to bad sanitation and even forcing a woman to give birth in a toilet. They do no favors for states that support them, either; Idaho was one of the places that ended its contract with CCA after the company handed over a $1 million settlement for falsifying staff hours and leaving mandatory monitoring spots unattended.

Special Election: Morrell wins state Senate seat

Assemblyman Mike Morrell, R-Rancho Cucamonga, won Tuesday's special election in the 23rd Senate District. 

Morrell received 62.6 percent of the vote, with all 811 precincts reporting, according to semi-official results released by the Secretary of State's Office.

Democrat Ronald O'Donnell, an attorney, was second with 15.3 percent, followed by Democrat Ameenah Fuller, a health care policy consultant, with 9.5 percent, Calimesa City Councilman Jeff Hewitt, a Libertarian, with 6.5 percent and San Jacinto Mayor Crystal Ruiz, also a Republican, at 6.1 percent.

Under California's top two primary system, if one candidate captures a majority of the votes, they win outright and there is no run-off in the general election.

The special primary election was necessitated by the resignation of Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, who said his "level of commitment'' had waned, and he felt constituents deserved better representation.

In campaign literature, Morrell touted his legislative experience and two decades as a business owner. He said if elected, he would push for a balanced state budget, a reduction in the state bureaucracy and higher academic standards.

California Republicans seek to redirect high-speed rail dollars

Saying California has betrayed the will of voters who approved a controversial high-speed rail project, Assembly Republicans on Thursday proposed giving those voters a redo.

"It's clear that the current high-speed rail project hardly resembles what the voters narrowly approved," said Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway of Tulare.

Under the plan announced by a group of Republicans, voters would be able to decide whether to channel $8.5 billion in bond money, endorsed by voters via a 2008 ballot initiative, towards local transportation infrastucture projects.

The plan reflects both Republican ire over Gov. Jerry Brown's embattled project and the train's tenuous financial position. A Sacramento Superior Court judge in November ordered the Brown administration to tear up its funding plan, saying it had strayed from the terms of Proposition 1A, which authorized the bond issue back in 2008.

The Brown administration has since prevailed upon the California Supreme Court, and the high court ordered the case to be sent back to a lower court for an expedited review.

In addition to redirecting the high-speed rail money, the Republican package of four bills would dedicate up to $2.5 billion of a newfound state surplus to paying off transportation loans; ensure billions in fuel tax money flows annually into local infrastructure projects, per the terms of Proposition 42; and compel the state to repay $2.5 billion in gasoline tax revenue diverted elsewhere during lean budget years.


PHOTO: Assemblywoman Connie Conway, joined by fellow Republicans, unveils the caucus' transportation package in the State Capitol on February 6, 2014. The Sacramento Bee/Jeremy B. White.


via: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/02/california-republicans-seek-to-redirect-high-speed-rail-dollars.html

Governor Brown, put money into California's communities and stop warehousing humans!

My name is Nicole and I am living in a homeless shelter provided by Time For Change Foundation.  This was the only option available to me when I left prison December 3^rd after serving 17 years, with $200 in my pocket and the clothes on my back. 

Although I had employment skills prior to my incarceration and gained more during over the years in prison, I do not qualify for monetary assistance.  If it weren’t for programs like Time For Change Foundation, I would be living on the street, which would violate my parole and I would become a statistic of recidivism. 

Without a job, I am living at the poverty level.  I am here to raise my voice to call on Governor Brown to build a road out of poverty in California for myself and the 8.7 million Californian’s.

Until very recently I was part of the overcrowding in the California prison system.  I felt firsthand the impact of Governor Brown’s efforts to reduce the prison population and his repeated failures to follow the letter and the intent of the numerous federal court orders to reduce the prison population.  

Time and again Governor Brown has suggested the solution of building more prisons, spending more money outsourcing inmates and attempting to warehouse human beings instead of looking at the cost effectiveness, both financially and on a human level, of spending that money on rehabilitation instead.

California does not need more prisons.  California does not need to ship its prisoners out to other states.  California needs to provide avenues not only for reintegration following incarceration but for survival to avoid incarceration in the first place.  

Putting the money he seeks to allocate to building more prisons, back into the California communities, will ultimately save the State money and improve the lives of Californians.  Reallocating funds to restorations to Medi-Cal, childcare, CalWORKs, SSI and IHSS will accomplish these goals.

It is my sincere hope that Governor Brown will look at the whole picture, the long range goals, the potential in many people who are currently living below the poverty level and make some sweeping changes to the proposed budget to really invest in the people of California and their unlimited capacity to thrive if given just a little assistance.

Nicole La FontaineTime for Change Foundation

CPHEN Statement on the California Budget Proposal for 2014-15

News Bulletin January 9, 2014 Statement from Ellen Wu, Executive Director of CPEHN, on the California Budget Proposal for 2014-15 Governor Brown’s proposal for the 2014-15 state budget, released yesterday, increases funding to health and human services but misses an important opportunity to restore some of the devastating cuts that have impacted the health of California’s communities of color. The budget proposal includes a $670 million increase to Medi-Cal, mostly for already-enacted implementation of the Affordable Care Act. And while the proposed budget “forgives” the past years of uncollected cuts to Medi-Cal providers, it leaves in place a 10% reduction of Medi-Cal rates. Additionally, the budget proposal does not restore any of the other previous cuts to Medi-Cal benefits. For more than a decade our communities have been asked to endure painful cuts to services due to structural deficits in the state budget. The passage of Proposition 30 in 2012 has been critical to providing much needed revenue for the state. California must use this opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to its most vulnerable communities by restoring previous cuts to our health and human services programs as well as making sure Californians who remain uninsured have access to affordable coverage. Visit our Policy Center for a detailed summary of the budget proposal. If you have any questions, please contact Cary Sanders at csanders@cpehn.org. If you would like to change your contact information, please email info@cpehn.org. If you would like to unsubscribe from CPEHN's Action Alerts, please email unsubscribe-actionalerts@cpehn.org. If you would like to unsubscribe from ALL CPEHN email communications, please email unsubscribe-all@cpehn.org. GET INVOLVED ·         Share With a Friend ·         Subscribe to our Newsletter, Action Alerts, or Event Invites ·         Join Our Network ·         Follow Us on Twitter @CPEHN ·         Like Us on Facebook ·         Donate

© 2014 / California Pan-Ethnic Health Network / info@cpehn.org MAIN OFFICE: 1221 Preservation Park Way, Suite 200, Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510) 832-1160 / Fax: (510) 832-1175 SACRAMENTO OFFICE: 1225 8th Street, Suite 470, Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 447-1299 / Fax: (916) 447-1292

Statewide Day of Action

Join us this Friday, January 10th 

for our 

Statewide Day of Action

Choose a location nearest you and let your voice be heard!

San Francisco

Where: 350 McAllister Street

When: 12:00 pm

Contact: Pete Woiwode

(510) 504-9552

pete@communitychange.org

Sacramento

Where: Capitol Room TBD

When: 11:00 am or following

Governor Brown's statement

Contact: Pete Woiwode

(510) 504-9552

pete@communitychange.org

San Jose

Where: 200 E. Santa Clara St.

When: 10:00 am

Contact: Pete Woiwode

(510) 504-9552

pete@communitychange.org

Bakersfield

Where: Liberty Bell at 

1415 Truxton Ave., 93301

When: 12:00 pm

Contact: Paola Fernandez

(661) 378-7290

pfernandez@communitychange.org

Los Angeles

Where: State Building at

300 S. Spring Street, 90013

When: 12:00 pm

Contact: Astrid Campos

(714) 396-8242

acampos@communitychange.org

Riverside

Where: California Towers at

3737 Main Street, 92501

When: 11:30 am

Contact: Maribel Nunez

(562) 569-4051

mnunez@communitychange.org

Stop Prison Spending and Reinvest in our Communities: Take Action Now!

Today, the Governor and Legislative leaders announced a "compromise deal" to address the court order to reduce prison crowding. They've given the Court an ultimatum: either extend the deadline or we will expand the prison system.

The Assembly will be voting on the plan this Wednesday, and we need our voices to be louder than ever: California does not need any prison expansion. Reduce the prison population and restore the cuts now.  

We are having a big impact. Our pressure forced Brown to agree to add millions in investments to rehabilitation and diversion if the Court deadline is extended. But as it stands, this bill will delay any real reductions to the prison population. And unless we cancel the state's plans to build 3 new prisons will mean an expansion of the prison system. We need to demand that the administration prioritize the prison population reduction strategies we know will work today.

All of our events statewide are still happening so please join us in the streets at an action near you:

  Sacramento: Tuesday - September 10 - Press Conference at 11:00am at the North Steps, Capital Building, followed by legislative visits. Please contact emily@curbprisonspending for more information.

  Los Angeles: Tuesday - September 10 - Preschool Not Prisons Press Conference & Rally at 9:30am at Twin Towers Jail, 450 Bauchet. Please contact info@raisingcaliforniatogether.org for more information.

  Los Angeles: Tuesday - September 10 - Virtual Townhall at 6:00pm – 8:00pm at Community Coalition and Homeboy Industries. Please contact Karren Lane at karren@cocosouthla.org for more information.

Los Angeles: Wednesday - September 11 - Press Conference at 10:30am – 12:00pm at the Ronald Reagan State Building, 300 South Spring Street. RSVP on Facebook. Please contact diana@curbprisonspending.org for more information.

  Los Angeles: Saturday - September 14 - Free Our Sisters: Community Solutions, Not Jail Construction at 2pm at Art Share LA, 801 E. 4th Place. Please contact diana@curbprisonspending.org for more information.

State Senate Democrats propose alternative to Brown's prison plan

SACRAMENTO - Democratic leaders of the State Senate on Wednesday proposed an extran $200 million annually for rehabilitation, drug and mental health treatment as an alternative to Gov. Jerry Brown's plan for reducing prison overcrowding.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said Wednesday that his Senate Democratic Caucus wants the spending in exchange for a three-year extension of federal judges' Dec. 31 deadline for removing more than 9,600 inmates from state prisons.

Steinberg said the Senate proposal was preferable to Brown's plan to spend $315 million this year and $415 million in each of the following two years on alternate housing for inmates.

"Temporarily expanding California's prison capacity is neither sustainable nor fiscally responsible," Steinberg wrote to Brown and inmates' attorneys Wednesday. Inmate lawsuits led to the judges' ruling that state prisons are unconstitutionally crowded.

Any extension would have to be approved by the judges, who have castigated Brown for stalling on obeying their order to shed more prisoners.

Steinberg, flanked by 16 Democratic senators in a Capitol hallway, said the Senate plan is modeled on a 2009 state program that reduced new prison admissions by nearly 9,600.

The plan won a quick endorsement from the prisoners' attorneys.

"Sen. Steinberg's substantive proposals are acceptable to us and we are open to an extension" if all parties can agree on an approach "that will resolve the chronic overcrowding problem in the state's prisons," the attorneys said in a statement.

The lawyers said they were willing to meet with the governor and discuss ways to end federal court oversight of prison medical care, imposed because the judges said overcrowding led to inadequate healthcare and needless inmate deaths.

The judges are unlikely to extend their Dec. 31 deadline without evidence that the proposal would result in meaningful policy changes, said legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school atUC Irvine.

"I think the court wants to be sure this is not another delay," Chemerinsky said.

Steinberg's plan drew sharp criticism from Gov. Brown and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles).

"It would not be responsible to turn over California's criminal justice policy to inmate lawyers who are not accountable to the people," Brown said in a statement.

"My plan avoids early releases of thousands of prisoners and lays the foundation for longer-term changes, and that's why local officials and law enforcement support it," he said.

Pérez said in a separate statement that he was "deeply skeptical about Senator Steinberg's approach." It would give more power to "prisoner plaintiffs who favor mass release of prisoners," Pérez said.

Steinberg countered that his plan would also avoid early releases. But there may be no more money available for rehabilitation if the state spends more than $1 billion on incarceration over the next three years, the senator said.

Steinberg suggested that a middle ground might be found. "Does this lead to conversation that leads to a solution and compromise? I hope," Steinberg said. "You know me. It's not my way or the highway. We are putting down a settlement proposal here."

But time is short. Steinberg called for an agreement by Sept. 13, the Legislature's last meeting day this year. The settlement would provide for a panel of experts to set a new prison population cap.

In addition, an advisory panel would be formed to restructure sentencing laws so fewer offenders would be sent to prison in the long run.

The state "cannot assume that the plaintiffs and their lawyers, and the federal court, will agree to a three-year extension," said Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber).

On the other hand, nobody wants to be responsible for releasing thousands of inmates early because of a stalemate, said Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A.

"You'd have to think they are going to find some accommodation," Sonenshein said.

Meanwhile, Steinberg canceled a Senate confirmation hearing for two corrections department directors appointed by the governor.

"We have additional questions about the administration's ongoing corrections policy," said Steinberg spokesman Mark Hedlund. "It makes sense to wait before we consider those two appointments."


By Patrick McGreevy
patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Times staff writers Anthony York and Paige St. John contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times