When a panel of federal judges earlier this month ordered the state to come up with a plan to quickly move some 43,000 inmates out of the grossly overcrowded state prison system, it provided legislators with the political cover to do what they knew they had to do anyway.
But the state Assembly has decided to toss that gift aside and in effect tell the federal courts “Make us.”
Here’s a news flash for the lower house: There’s a reason it’s called an “order.” Federal judges don’t like being ignored and have plenty of ways to make their unhappiness known, as the state has found in other prison-related battles.
When the Senate passed the state prison reform bill last Thursday, there were plenty of members who didn’t like it. It didn’t get a single Republican vote and only the bare number of Democratic votes needed to pass.
But pass it did, which showed that Senate Democrats, at least, are willing to make hard choices, especially when they know that the alternatives are worse.
In the Assembly, however, a number of Democrats are scared to death that their political opponents will tag them with a “soft on crime” label if they vote for the Senate’s prison package. Speaker Karen Bass is now busy jettisoning every controversial element of the plan in the hope of finding enough votes to pass something.
A panel to determine whether California’s sentencing laws actually are doing the job of keeping the public safe in the most efficient and cost effective manner? Forget it.
Let non-violent elderly and infirm inmates spend the final year of their sentences confined at home with a monitor on their ankle? No way.
Allow a trio of “wobbler” crimes that now can be tried as either felonies or misdemeanors be changed to misdemeanors only? Not going to happen.
While Bass can seek to placate the members nervous about their upcoming elections by watering down the prison bill, there are a couple of problems.
First, the state budget calls for a $1.2 billion cut in prison spending. The changes Bass is looking at will leave the cuts about $200 million short of that number, blowing another hole in the spending plan.
Second, the judges want a plan that trims the prison system by about 43,000 inmates and they want it in their hands by mid-September. The plan put together by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and approved by the Senate would cut about 37,000 inmates over two years, which at least puts the state within negotiating range of the court requirement.
But Assembly Democrats have apparently decided that they’d rather let the courts decide how the prison system gets cut rather than risking their political futures by doing what they know is both right and necessary.
That goes double for the Legislature’s Republicans. Sure, people like Assembly GOP leader Sam Blakeslee can say that Republicans will oppose any bill that “enables the early release of even one inmate,” but how do they plan to deal with that court order?
If the Republicans have a suggestion, it’s time to hear it.
So when will the Assembly have a chance to vote on what is being billed as a new and improved version of the prison bill? Here’s what Bass said in a statement this week.
“When we arrive at a responsible plan that can earn the support of a majority of the Assembly and makes sense to the people of California, we will take that bill up on the Assembly floor.”
Translation: Don’t hold your breath.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.