Criminal Justice Publications

Report

The 2015-16 Budget: Improved Budgeting for the Department of State Hospitals

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February 9, 2015 - This report examines the budget of the Department of State Hospitals (DSH), which provides inpatient mental health services to patients in DSH’s eight facilities. It provides an overview of the various components of the department’s budget, and details how the department develops its annual budget requests. The report finds several shortcomings with the current budgeting process. To address these, the report provides recommendations for the Legislature to consider.

Handout

Restructuring the Court-Ordered Debt Collection Process

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January 16, 2015 - An additional resource to our November 2014 report Restructuring the Court-Ordered Debt Collection Process.

Report

Restructuring the Court-Ordered Debt Collection Process

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November 10, 2014 - As an additional resource, this handout gives a high level overview of the report.

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Court-ordered debt collected from defendants convicted of traffic violations or criminal offenses provides revenue to a number of state and local funds, which in turn support a variety of programs including trial court operations and victim assistance. As a result, the state has an interest in ensuring that such debt is collected in a cost-effective manner that maximizes the amount of revenue available to support these programs. Based on our review of the existing collections process for court-ordered debt, we believe that improvements can be made to help increase collections of such debt and the amount of revenue available for distribution to various state and local funds. Specifically, we recommend: (1) realigning the current court-ordered debt collection process to the courts, (2) piloting a new collections incentive model that would reward courts for improving collections, and (3) improving data collection to enable comprehensive evaluations of the performance of collection programs.

Report

Default Prove-Up Process, Chapter 193, Statutes of 2011 (AB 110, Blumenfield)

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July 18, 2014 - In recent years, various concerns have been raised regarding the state’s “default prove-up process”—a trial court process related to certain civil cases involving the collection of debt. In view of the concerns raised by stakeholders, the Legislature passed Chapter 193, Statutes of 2011 (AB 110, Blumenfield), requiring both Judicial Council (the policymaking and governing body of the judicial branch) and our office to review the state’s default prove-up process. This report responds to the requirements specified in Chapter 193.

Handout

Public Safety Realignment Funding Allocation

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May 12, 2014 - Public Safety Realignment Funding Allocation

Handout

Trial Court Operations Funding

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May 7, 2014 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety

Handout

An Update on Achieving a Constitutional Level of Correctional Medical Care

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May 1, 2014 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 5 On Corrections, Public Safety and the Judiciary

Handout

Trial Court Operations Funding

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April 10, 2014 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 5 On Corrections, Public Safety and the Judiciary

Report

The 2014-15 Budget: The Administration's Response to the Prison Overcrowding Order

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February 28, 2014 - In this report, we provide an analysis of the Governor's proposals to comply with the federal court order to reduce the state's prison population. Specifically, we review the administration's plans to comply with the population cap by (1) contracting for additional prison bed space, (2) utilizing funding from the Recidivism Reduction Fund to support initiatives intended to reduce the prison population (such as expanding rehabilitative services), and (3) implementing court-ordered population reduction measures. We recommend a variety of modifications to the Governor’s proposals. In particular, we recommend using a portion of the monies in the Recidivism Reduction Fund to evaluate the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's current rehabilitative programs and to expand an existing grant program that incentivizes counties to reduce prison admissions.

Report

The 2014-15 Budget: Governor's Criminal Justice Proposals

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February 19, 2014 - In the report we provide an analysis of the Governor's budget proposals for state criminal justice programs, including the judicial branch, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), and various proposals related to local public safety. The report reviews the most significant proposals in these departments and offers corresponding recommendations for the Legislature's consideration. For example, we recommend that the Legislature take several actions to improve the administration’s approach to trial court funding, including the current trial court reserves policy. In addition, we review the administration’s proposals related to correctional relief staffing and overtime and make a series of recommendations to reduce spending on staffing and overtime and make CDCR's staffing process more cost-efficient.

Handout

Assessment of CDCR Blueprint

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January 30, 2014 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee

Handout

Addressing the Federal Court Prison Population Cap

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September 4, 2013 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee

Handout

Maximizing Federal Reimbursement for Parolee Mental Health Care

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May 8, 2013 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services

Report

The 2013-14 Budget: Maximizing Federal Reimbursement for Parolee Mental Health Care

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May 6, 2013 - Historically, the state has spent tens of millions of dollars annually from the General Fund for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide mental health treatment services to mentally ill parolees. Our analysis indicates that federal Medicaid reimbursements could be attained for some of the costs of these existing services. Moreover, the amount of federal reimbursements could increase significantly under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) if the Legislature chooses to expand Medi-Cal to provide health coverage to most low-income individuals, as authorized by ACA. In order to maximize the federal reimbursements that will be available for parolee mental health treatment, especially if the state expands Medi-Cal eligibility, we recommend that CDCR (1) provide increased Medi-Cal application assistance for mentally ill parolees to ensure that all eligible parolees are enrolled, (2) develop a process—in collaboration with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)—to claim federal reimbursement for the costs of assisting inmates with benefits applications, and (3) develop a process—in collaboration with DHCS—to claim federal reimbursement for parolee mental health treatment services provided to parolees. If the state took these steps, we estimate it could achieve net General Fund savings of about $6 million in 2013-14 and $28 million annually upon full implementation in 2014-15 (assuming the state implements the Medi-Cal expansion).

Handout

Complying With the Three-Judge Panel Prison Population Limit

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April 17, 2013 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety