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January 6, 1995 - The “Three Strikes and You’re Out” Law—A Preliminary Assessment
January 6, 1995 - Accommodating Prison Population Growth
June 9, 1994 - On November 2, 1993, California voters enacted Proposition 172, which established a permanent statewide half-cent sales tax for support of local public safety functions in cities and counties. This Policy Brief reviews how counties—the primary beneficiaries of Proposition 172—have budgeted these new funds in 1993-94 and assesses the impact of public safety several maintenance of effort requirements on county budgets.
April 1, 1994 - The Trial Court Realignment and Efficiency Act of 1991 modified the Trial Court Funidng Program and significantly changed the state-local funding relationship for support of the trial courts. The Governor's Budget proposes to significantly increase state support and fund trial court operations so that state expenditures are dsiplayed by function instead of by block grant amounts. We identify a number of issues with the Governor's proposal.
April 1, 1994 - Analysis of the 1989 Budget of the State Bar of California
March 1, 1994 - In this analysis, we examine the state of Califonia's probation system.
February 22, 1994 - Analysis of the 1994-95 Budget Bill, Judiciary and Criminal Justice Chapter
February 8, 1994 - We recommend that the Legislature enact legislation to establish a new, actuarially sound, retirement program for judges taking office in the future in order to reduce long-run state costs for judges' retirement. The legislation should incorporate the retirement plan developed by the Select Committee on Judicial Retirement, with modifications to further reduce state costs, as detailed in this report.
January 1, 1994 - In recent years, the Legislature and Governor have enacted numerous laws to respond to the public's concerns with crime in California, including measures to stiffen penalties for existing criminal offenses, define new criminal offenses, construct new correctional facilities, and provide financial assistance to law enforcement. Despite these responses, however, recent polls indicate that fear of crime remains a top concern of Californians. In an effort to put the current discussion of crime in California in perspective, we have prepared this report to answer several key questions.
March 1, 1993 - The Trial Court Realignment and Efficiency Act of 1991 modified the Trial Court Funding Program, enacted by Ch 945/88 (SB 612, Presley), and significantly changed state-local funding relationship for support of the trial courts. However, the Trial Court Funding Program has generally not met the Legislature's expectations or purposes described in statute. In addition, state funding for the program has become more complex and has not increased as intended by the Legislature. We address these and other trial court funding issues in the Analysis of the 1993-94 Budget Bill and recommend that the Legislature assess the progress of the Trial Court Funding Program and determine what changes to the program are necessary to meet the Legislature's purposes.
January 5, 1993 - The California Department of Corrections (CDC) is one of the largest and fastest-growing departments in state government. The department spends about 90 percent of its budget—2.5 billion in 1992-93—on the operation of the state's prison system. As of December 1992, there were 109,141 inmates in state prison (almost double the system's design capacity). In this report, we assess the CDC's recent projections of the prison inmate population and discuss their fiscal implications.
February 1, 1992 - In this analysis, we (1) review the short-term implementation issues surrounding Chapter 90 and the related measures, and (2) identify a number of policy issues that the Legislature will need to address as it considers providing additional support for the trial courts for the budget year and beyond.
December 19, 1991 - A Review of the State Bar Court
February 1, 1991 - Expenditures to support the state's growing prison and parole populations continue to increase at a rapid rate. In addition, the state currently has a limited range of punishment options for many criminal offenders. One potential way to address this growing population in a more effective way is through "community corrections" programs. This approach involves the use of intermediate sanctions as an alternative to state prisons.