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February 22, 1995 - In November 1990, California voters approved Proposition 139, an initiative constitutional amendment and statute establishing the Joint Venture Program authorizing state prison and county jail officials to contract with private entities, businesses, and others for inmate labor.
January 6, 1995 - On March 7, 1994, Governor Wilson signed into law AB 971 (Ch 12194, Jones)-referred to as the ''Three Strikes and You're Out" criminal sentencing measure. In November, the voters reaffirmed the measure by overwhelmingly approving Proposition 184, an initiative that is essentially identical to Chapter 12.
January 6, 1995 - The California Department of Corrections (CDC) projects that the state prison population will grow by almost 70 percent in the next five years. Much of this growth will be driven by enactment of the "Three Strikes and You're Out" legislation. Building new state prisons to accommodate this growth will be both challenging and costly. In this report, we discuss (1) the CDC's inmate population projections and new prison needs, (2) the current status of funding for prison construction and renovation, and (3) the state budget implications of accommodating growth in the state's prison population.
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.