California is less than two weeks away from shifting some state prison inmates into county jails, and Gov. Jerry Brown talks to hundreds of law enforcement and government officials this morning about that very subject.
Capitol denizens call this move "public safety realignment." It's described in this Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website as "historic legislation that will enable California to close the revolving door of low-level inmates cycling in and out of state prisons."
Counties are about to take responsibility for custody, treatment and supervision of offenders convicted of specific non-violent, non-serious and non-sex crimes. The shift starts Oct. 1.
Brown will give the keynote address at 10 a.m. at the one-day conference, which runs all day at the Sacramento Convention Center. His remarks will be webcast live on the governor's website.
Other listed speakers at the welcoming session include Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione (president of the California State Association of Counties), Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin (president of the California State Sheriffs' Association), and Fresno County Probation Chief Linda Penner (president of the Chief Probation Officers of California).
Rounding out the session is Jerry Madden, a Republican in the Texas House of Representatives, whose website lists his legislative initiatives aimed at diverting offenders from prison, offering more opportunities for rehabilitation, and using probation and parole to save money on building new prisons.
Three panel sessions will then look, in turn, at pretrial jail populations, sentencing and probation. Click here to read CDCR's five-page fact sheet on what the realignment plan does (and doesn't) entail.
Earlier this month, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones called on Brown to postpone the Oct. 1 rollout but added, "On Oct. 2, if this is the law of the land, we will make it work."
Meanwhile, even though Republican legislators in Sacramento are crying foul over a union-backed push to schedule all ballot measures during November elections, a majority of GOP voters think it's a pretty good idea, as Torey Van Oot reports in today's Bee. The latest Field Poll also found that voters have mixed feelings on online sales taxes.
Bills on these issues are now on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. Click here to read the public release, and click here to see the tabulations produced exclusively for Capitol Alert.
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