The 2020-21 Spending Plan

Judiciary and Criminal Justice

The 2020‑21 budget provides $15.9 billion from the General Fund for judicial and criminal justice programs, including support for program operations and capital outlay projects, as shown in Figure 1. This is a decrease of $207 million, or 1.3 percent, below the revised 2019‑20 spending level.

Judicial Branch

The budget provides a total of $3.9 billion for support of the judicial branch—a decrease of $71 million (or 1.8 percent) from the revised 2019‑20 level. This amount includes $2.2 billion from the General Fund and $499 million from the counties, with most of the remaining balance from fine, penalty, and court fee revenues. The General Fund amount is a net decrease of $99 million (or about 4.4 percent) from the revised 2019‑20 amount. Funding for trial court operations is the single largest component of the judicial branch budget, accounting for nearly four-fifths of total spending.

Backfill of Fine and Fee Revenue. Due to reduced court operations related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the amount of fine and fee revenue collected to support trial court operations in 2019‑20 declined more than originally estimated. Accordingly, the budget provides $90.9 million one-time General Fund to backfill this revenue decline. The budget also provides $182.8 million in one-time General Fund support to backfill an anticipated decline in fine and fee revenue in 2020‑21, bringing the total backfill to $273.8 million. Additionally, the budget package includes quarterly reporting requirements on the backfill need. Finally, the budget includes provisional language for the administration to provide additional General Fund if needed to address further decline in such revenue upon notification to the Legislature.

Trial Court Backlog. The budget includes a $50 million one-time General Fund augmentation for trial courts to address a backlog of cases that accumulated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trigger Reduction. The budget includes a $200 million reduction to the judicial branch—$176.9 million to the trial courts and $23.1 million to the state level judicial branch entities. However, $150 million of this reduction would be restored if the federal government provides sufficient funding by October 15, 2020—$126.9 million to the trial courts and $23.1 million to the state level judicial branch entities. (As the state received no additional federal relief funding by October 15, 2020, the reduction was not restored.) In addition to this trigger reduction, as part of the May Revision, the administration withdrew a January budget proposal to provide a $107.6 million General Fund augmentation for trial court operations—$61.7 million for a 3 percent increase in operational costs and $45.9 million for allocation by Judicial Council to equalize funding between trial courts.

Modernizing Trial Court Operations. The Governor’s January budget included two proposals—totaling $31.9 million over two years and $3 million annually thereafter—for digitizing documents and information technology modernization projects. In light of the budget condition, the administration withdrew these proposals in May and replaced them with a new proposal—which was included in the final budget—for $25 million General Fund one time in 2020‑21 and 2021‑22 for projects to modernize trial court operations that would be selected by Judicial Council.

Excess Property Tax Offset. The budget includes a $93.3 million reduction in General Fund support for trial court operations in 2020‑21 in order to reflect the availability of property tax revenue in accordance with Control Section 15.45 and Section 2578 of the Education Code. Such funds are remitted to the state by counties that collect more property tax than state law allows them to spend on education.

Other Budget Adjustments. The budget includes various other adjustments for the support of judicial branch operations. Some of the major adjustments include the following:

• $30 million General Fund augmentation for increased trial court health and retirement benefit costs. (We note the budget package also sets aside an additional $30 million to fund any additional cost increases that occur during the budget year.)
• $23.1 million in additional federal funds for dependency counsel—increasing the federal support of such activities to $57 million.
• $11.2 million augmentation of fee revenue to support the Shriver Program due to a $15 increase in existing civil fees supporting this program. The program supports legal representation and court services for low-income individuals in certain case types (such as landlord-tenant cases).
• $9.9 million General Fund augmentation to continue expanding court interpreter services into all trial court civil proceedings and to purchase video remote interpreting equipment for the trial courts.
• $7 million one-time General Fund to backfill reduced civil filing fee revenues used to support county law libraries.
• $13 million in special fund loans—$8 million from the Family Law Trust Fund and $5 million from the Appellate Court Trust Fund—to the General Fund.

Excludes Proposal for Online Adjudication of Infractions. The Legislature rejected a January budget proposal to provide an $11.6 million General Fund augmentation in 2020‑21 (growing to $56 million in 2023‑24) to expand statewide the use of an online adjudication tool (including an ability to pay component) and backfill resulting reductions in criminal fine and fee revenue for the judicial branch.

Capital Outlay. The budget includes $978.4 million for various trial court construction projects. This amount includes a reauthorization of $953.3 million in lease revenue bond authority for the construction of five previously approved courthouses (Riverside Indio, Riverside Mid-County, Sacramento, Sonoma Santa Rosa, and Stanislaus Modesto). It also includes $25.1 million in increased lease revenue bond authority for the construction of two previously approved courthouses (Stanislaus Modesto and Glenn Willows). However, as part of the May Revision, the administration withdrew a January proposal to provide $43.6 million one-time General Fund in 2020‑21 for trial court capital outlay projects as part of a larger plan to provide a total of $2 billion for about 25 projects over the next five years.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

The budget provides $13.1 billion from the General Fund for support of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). This is a net increase of $25 million, or less than 1 percent, above the revised 2019‑20 level of spending. This increase primarily reflects additional spending related to (1) increased costs associated with providing workers’ compensation and covering correctional officers’ posts when they are on leave, (2) completing work that staff cannot perform due to temporary medical conditions, and (3) increased costs for psychiatry services. This additional spending is partially offset by various spending reductions, including reduced spending for contract beds due to a decline in the inmate population. (The above spending changes do not reflect the administration’s plan to reduce statewide employee compensation costs by up to 10 percent in 2020‑21 through collective bargaining. These reductions are accounted for elsewhere in the budget.)

Realignment of the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). The 2019‑20 budget package included a plan to reorganize DJJ to become a separate state department under the Health and Human Services Agency. However, as part of the May Revision for the 2020‑21 budget, the Governor proposed a plan to instead “realign” or shift the responsibility of DJJ for housing certain juvenile offenders from the state to the counties. Under the enacted 2020‑21 budget, youth who would otherwise be sent to DJJ will generally be placed under county supervision beginning July 1, 2021. To assist counties with their increased responsibility, the budget provides grant funding through the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), which we discuss in more detail later in this post. Due to the planned realignment, the budget also excludes funding for several of the Governor’s January budget proposals and previously authorized programs that were premised on the state continuing to operate a state-level juvenile justice system permanently.

Changes Reducing Adult Correctional Population. Several proposals were approved as part of the budget package that will likely result in a decrease in inmate and parolee populations. These changes include:

• Reduced Parole Terms and Earned Discharge. The budget package makes changes to parole terms including setting maximum parole terms for most parolees at two or three years and establishing an early discharge process. These changes will result in a decrease in the parolee population over the next few years. The budget assumes that this reduction will result in $23.4 million General Fund savings in 2020‑21, increasing in future years.
• Shortened Reception Center Process. The budget package includes a plan to reduce reception center processing time, allowing inmates to access rehabilitation programs earlier and earn more time off their prison terms. This change is estimated to reduce CDCR spending by $3.7 million (primarily from the General Fund) in 2020‑21, increasing in future years.
• Increased Good Conduct Credits. The budget reflects a plan to increase the amount of time certain inmates earn off their prison terms through good behavior. This change is estimated to reduce CDCR spending by $2.7 million (primarily from the General fund) in 2020‑21, increasing in future years.

Given the ongoing decline in the inmate population, budget trailer legislation reflects a plan to close one prison in 2021‑22 and a second in 2022‑23. (On September 25, 2020, the administration announced that it plans to close the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy by September 31, 2021.)

Inmate Health Care. The budget includes various ongoing General Fund augmentations related to inmate health care. These augmentations include (1) $61.9 million for contract medical services to replace one-time funding that expired at the end of 2019‑20, (2) $13.3 million for psychiatry registry services, and (3) $5.9 million (increasing to $8.4 million by 2024‑25) to expand telepsychiatry services. The budget also includes some General Fund reductions for inmate health care-related programs. Most notably, the budget includes a one-time reduction of $30 million to reflect COVID-19-related delays in the implementation of some aspects of the Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program—which is intended to treat substance use disorders as a chronic illness and expand rehabilitation opportunities in prison.

Prison Infrastructure. The budget includes several augmentations related to prison infrastructure. These include an additional $33.7 million from the General Fund, primarily to construct medication rooms at various prisons. In addition, the budget provides $134.4 million in increased lease revenue authority, primarily to construct a 50-bed mental health crisis facility at the California Institution for Men in Chino ($91 million) and to improve health care facilities at various prisons ($35.2 million). The budget also provides $1 million in 2020‑21 (increasing to $36.6 million in 2021‑22) from the General Fund to replace roofs at California State Prison, Sacramento in Represa. (We note that the Governor’s January budget had a similar proposal to replace roofs at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, but the administration withdrew this proposal as part of the May Revision.)

Other Budget Adjustments. The budget includes $16.7 million from the General Fund in 2020‑21 and 2021‑22 for CDCR to complete work that staff cannot perform due to temporary medical conditions. In addition, the budget includes an ongoing General Fund reduction of $18.5 million to CDCR’s prison maintenance funding and an $8.1 million General Fund reduction resulting from the elimination of the Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolees program. Finally, the budget reflects a plan to close eight conservation camps beginning in January 2021, which will reduce General Fund spending by about $7.4 million 2020‑21, increasing in future years. These closures are in response to a decline in the number of inmates eligible for placement in the camps.

Budget Excludes Some Major Governor’s Proposals. The budget excludes various Governor’s proposals that were subsequently withdrawn by the administration or rejected by the Legislature in adopting the final budget. These proposals include:

• $71 million in increased funding for county probation departments due to various statutory changes, including requiring increased county supervision of certain misdemeanor probationers and reducing the length of felony and misdemeanor probation. (We note, however, that similar reductions in the length of felony and misdemeanor probation were approved through the policy process with the passage of Chapter 328 of 2020 [AB 1950, Kamlager].)
• $26.9 million increase to implement various technologies (such as laptops for inmates) intended to improve inmate educational outcomes.
• $21.4 million increase to implement various initiatives to improve correctional staff training, such as a facility for hands-on officer training and job shadowing program.
• $21.6 million for video surveillance systems at three prisons.
• $9 million reduction to eliminate Parole Outpatient Clinics, which provide certain mental health services to parolees.

Department of Justice (DOJ)

The budget provides $753 million for support of DOJ in 2020‑21—an increase of $11 million (or 1.5 percent) from the revised 2019‑20 level. This amount includes $372 million from the General Fund—a net increase of $11 million (or 3 percent). (The net increase does not reflect changes in employee compensation costs in 2019‑20 because such costs are accounted for elsewhere in the budget.)

Bureau of Forensic Services Operations. Due to declines in criminal fine and fee revenue used to support DOJ’s Bureau of Forensic Services, the budget provides a one-time General fund backfill of $25.8 million in 2020‑21. The budget also redirects $10 million General Fund previously budgeted for other DOJ programs to support the Bureau of Forensic Services. The $10 million in redirected funds would be backfilled by funds from the Fingerprint Fees Account. In total, this results in a $35.8 million one-time General Fund augmentation for the Bureau of Forensic Services. The budget also includes provisional language for the administration to provide additional General Fund if needed to address further decline in such revenue upon notification to the Legislature. We also note that as part of the May Revision, the Governor withdrew two General Fund proposals—$9.5 million one time and $7.3 million ongoing—related to a new facility and the maintenance of equipment and laboratories.

Firearms. The budget provides a total of $11.4 million in augmentations for firearm-related purposes. This includes $5.9 million one-time General Fund in 2020‑21 (and $8.3 million one time in 2021‑22) to expedite implementation of new firearm precursor parts regulatory requirements enacted by Chapter 730 of 2019 (AB 879, Gipson). The budget also includes $5.5 million from the Dealers’ Record of Sale (DROS) Special Account to implement various pieces of firearm-related legislation and $2.4 million one time from DROS to analyze the need for modernizing the state’s firearms systems.

Healthcare Rights and Access Section. The budget includes a $6.9 million augmentation—$3.7 million from the Attorney General Antitrust Account and $3.2 million from the Unfair Competition Law Fund—to establish a new Healthcare Rights and Access Section within DOJ. All health care-related litigation workload would be consolidated into this section. We note that the budget does not include a $2.2 million General Fund augmentation for this section that was proposed by the Governor in January along with these funds.

Loans. The budget includes $155.2 million in special fund loans to the General Fund. These loans come from five special funds: (1) $85 million from the Gambling Control Fund, (2) $50 million from the Fingerprint Fees Account, (3) $7.3 million from the Gambling Control Fines and Penalties Account, (4) $6.5 million from the Firearms Safety and Enforcement Special Fund, and (5) $6.4 million from the Firearm Safety Account.

Other Budget Adjustments. The budget includes various other adjustments for the support of DOJ operations. Some of the major adjustments include the following:

• $12.8 million net augmentation—$5.1 million General Fund and $7.7 million from various special funds—to implement ten pieces of legislation. This includes $3.7 million from the Fingerprint Fees Account to ensure criminal records for certain individuals are no longer disclosed, $3.3 million General Fund for the expansion of one Tax Recovery in the Underground Economy (TRUE) investigative team, and $1.4 million in special fund reimbursements to modify the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) database.
• $14 million one-time General Fund augmentation for litigation-related claims. This includes $11.6 million to pay for claims related to the Erskine Wildfire and $2.4 million to pay claims related to Buffin v. City and County of San Francisco.

Budget Excludes Proposed Funding Reversion. As part of the May Revision, the administration proposed reverting $4.2 million one-time General Fund provided in 2019‑20 for the testing of sexual assault evidence kits and for addressing sex trafficking in Sacramento in order to achieve General Fund savings. This proposed reversion was rejected by the Legislature in the final budget.

Board of State and Community Corrections

The budget provides $348 million for support of BSCC in 2020‑21—a decrease of $36 million (or 9 percent) from the revised 2019‑20 level. This amount includes $136 million from the General Fund—a net decrease of $123 million (or 47 percent). This decrease primarily reflects the expiration of limited-term funding for grants provided in prior years.

Grant Funding. The budget includes General Fund augmentations for BSCC to administer various grant programs. These include:

• $12.9 million on a one-time basis to assist counties with a temporary increase in the population supervised by county probation departments due to the release of prison inmates as a result of Proposition 57 (2016).
• $10 million on a one-time basis for a pilot program to provide grants to eligible county public defender offices for indigent defense services.
• $9.6 million—increasing to about $209 million annually by 2024‑25—to support the realignment of DJJ to the counties. The costs of these grants will be at least partially offset in future years from state savings related to reductions in the DJJ population.

In addition, the budget reflects receipt of $58.5 million in one-time federal funds through the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program. These funds will be allocated to state, local, or tribal government entities or not-for-profit, private entities to help ease the financial impacts of COVID-19 on the criminal justice system. The budget plan also assumes that BSCC will receive $39.7 million in cannabis tax revenue to support competitive grants to local governments to assist with public health and safety programs related to cannabis. (For more information on cannabis tax revenue spending, please see the Cannabis Regulation section in the Other Provisions post of our Spending Plan series.)

Proposals Rejected by the Legislature. In adopting the budget, the Legislature rejected two proposals from the Governor to reduce BSCC program funding. Specifically, proposals were rejected to (1) eliminate ongoing General Fund support for grants to community-based organizations for reentry services for individuals who were previously incarcerated in state prison and (2) revert $18 million in previously authorized but unspent General Fund support for grant programs focused on youth diversion and violence reduction.

Other Criminal Justice Programs

Repeal of Criminal Justice Administration Fees. In adopting the final budget package, the Legislature adopted legislation to eliminate the assessment and collection of approximately 20 criminal justice administrative fees as of July 1, 2021. The eliminated fees generally pertain to: (1) programs that are alternatives to incarceration (such as work release or electronic monitoring), (2) arrest and booking, and (3) indigent criminal defense. Since most of these fees are charged by counties, the legislation provides $65 million annually from the General Fund for five years beginning in 2021‑22 to backfill revenues lost due to the elimination of these fees.

Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD). The budget includes a $4 million General Fund augmentation to support a new Training and Technical Assistance Unit within OSPD to provide indigent criminal defense providers in trial courts with specialized training and high-level assistance. Additionally, the budget package includes budget trailer legislation removing long-standing legislative direction for OSPD to focus on death penalty appeals. The language also expands OSPD’s mission to include trial court indigent defense cases as well as training and assistance for indigent defense providers.

Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. The budget includes a $16.5 million one-time General Fund reversion of unspent prior-year funding in order to achieve General Fund savings. Additionally, the budget reappropriates $10 million in unspent prior-year funding to create and support a distance learning program ($5 million), modernize the existing learning management system portal ($3 million), and upgrade distance learning courses ($2 million).

Victim Compensation Board. The budget includes a one-time $23.5 million General Fund backfill to address a decline in criminal fine and fee related revenue used to support the Victim Compensation Board. The budget also includes provisional language for the administration to provide additional General Fund if needed to address further decline in such revenue upon notification to the Legislature.