Prop 6 Is Unnecessary Prison Spending
The Issue: California voters will consider Proposition 6- The Criminal Penalties and Laws, Public Safety Funding Statute in the election this November. The proposition will mandate additional spending to create new criminal justice programs and expand existing ones. Is the Criminal Penalties and Laws, Public Safety Funding Statute the correct public policy for California?
The Legislative Analyst’s Office (or LAO) is the department of the California Government that provides impartial analysis of legislation and propositions. Read the LAO Report here.
Prop 6 mandates an additional $365 million over current criminal justice spending levels. It also requires annual spending of $965 million. According to the LAO’s Report, the proposition will pay for the following:
- Increased supervision of adult probationers by counties ($65 million);
- Juvenile facility repair and renovation and the operation of county probation programs for youth ($50 million);
- City law enforcement efforts to target various crimes, including violent, gang, and gun crimes ($30 million);
- Prosecution of violent, gang, and vehicle theft crimes ($25 million);
- The construction and operation of county jails ($25 million);
- Assisting county sheriff and mid-size city police agencies to participate in county, regional, and statewide enforcement activities and programs ($20 million);
- Programs to assist parolees in their reentry into communities ($20 million).
Additionally, this proposition increases the sentence for many felonies, most gang-related.
The estimated cost to implement all of the measures of Proposition 6 is a billion dollars in the first few years.
This proposition was authored by Senator George Runner, a Republican from Apple Valley. It seems hypocritical for a person to ask for a fiscally conservative state budget, and then develop a ballot intiative that requires annual program funding (taking the decision to spend out of the hands of the Legislature) and to put more people in prison (increasing the cost and tax burden). This bill is completely wrong.
Position: Vote No on The Criminal Penalties and Laws, Public Safety Funding Statute.
California cannot afford additional mandated spending. We have had budget troubles ever since the K-12 system started recieve money through a measure like this one. Don’t support another costly public program.
Agreed! Good balanced look, and like everyone reading more than the title and summary, you are finding it necessary to say No to a billion dollars in autopilot spending at a time when the state budget and the economy are in such dire straits. The arguments you make against more prison spending apply to Prop 9, as well. Prop 9 will cost county as well as state government hundreds of millions annually to build new jails and prisons. NO on 6 & 9!
Props 6 & 9 would require cuts in funding for schools, healthcare, fire protection and services to seniors, to pay for more prisons and prisoners.
Props 6 & 9 would cost over a billion dollars a year, send more people to prison for longer times.
Prop 6 would try more 14 year olds as adults, and change 50 criminal laws.
Prop 9 would delay parole and require more local and state dollars be spent on jails and prisons.
Props 6 & 9 are opposed by a diverse coalition of unions and associations representing teachers, healthcare professionals, firefighters, as well as churches and civil rights groups. Opposed by League of Women Voters, California NOW, NAACP, Equality California, the California Democratic Party, the Placer County GOP, and conservative taxpayer associations in Kern, Orange & Ventura Counties. Many more can be seen at the websites below.
NO on 6 & 9!
http://www.votenoprop6.com
http://www.votenoprop9.com