2010

Other Budget Issues

This Web-based list provides comments by the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) on budget issues being considered by the Legislature in 2010. Both budget-related findings and recommendations are included, but this is not intended to be a comprehensive tracking system of all budget items. The LAO will continue to publish various other written documents analyzing the state budget. The purpose of this list is to provide an efficient forum for our office to address more technical budget issues for which we may not have a formal write-up.

This list is designed so it can be filtered by policy area or budget item. Also, selected information from the list can be downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet.


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2010 Recommendations

Criminal Justice

Last Updated Program Issue Finding or Recommendation More Detail?
5/27/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Shift certain offenders from state prison to county jails. Approve Governor's May Revision proposal to require that certain offenders sentenced to three years or less in state prison instead serve their time in county jails with certain modifications to address several concerns. Also, reject proposal to continuously appropriate from the General Fund $503 million starting in 2011-12 to support various local public safety programs. Detail
5/27/2010 Judiciary Court Security Fee Increase Reject Governor's proposed fee increase. Instead consider using competitive bidding for court security or a temporary redirection court fine and fee revenues currently being set aside to fund various court construction projects costs. Detail
4/13/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Reentry court pilot program for parolees charged with or convicted of new crimes. Approve the Governor's April Finance Letter proposal to establish a reentry court pilot program in San Diego County for parolees who have committed a new crime, but modify it to assume an additional $226,000 in net savings. Also, require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report on the progress and outcomes of the pilot program. Detail
3/17/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Inmate medical care. Require the administration to present at budget hearings a detailed plan on how the proposed $811 million in savings in inmate medical operations under the control of the federal-court appointed Receiver will be achieved. Also, fund in the budget year only those information technology projects proposed by the Receiver that are deemed to be the most critical. Detail
3/5/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Reimbursements to counties for detaining parolees who violate the terms of their parole. Provide the proposed $86.3 million one-time augmentation to eliminate an existing backlog of unpaid claims to counties for costs incurred in detaining parole violators over a three-year period from 2010-11 to 2012-13, with a first installment of $28.8 million provided in 2010-11. However, in order to avoid the creation of an additional backlog of unpaid claims, approve the Governor's proposed base increase of $15.6 million. Detail
3/5/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Reimbursements to counties for certain costs, such as those resulting from crimes committed in state prisons. Provide the proposed $3.3 million one-time augmentation to eliminate an existing backlog of unpaid claims over a three-year period from 2010-11 to 2012-13, with a first installment of $1.1 million provided in 2010-11. However, in order to avoid the creation of an additional backlog of unpaid claims, approve the Governor's proposed base increase of $2.2 million. Detail
3/4/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Reducing juvenile ward and parolee populations. In order to achieve General Fund savings, the Legislature could the reduce ward and parolee populations at the Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) by (1) reducing admissions to DJF, (2) reducing the amount of time wards serve at DJF facilities, and (3) reducing parole caseloads and the number of parole violators returned to DJF. Detail
3/3/2010 Department of Justice Funding for legal services. Modify Governor's proposal to transition General Fund-supported state agencies to a "billable-services" model for the legal services they receive from DOJ by (1) amending the proposed budget control section to specify that any request above $1 million may proceed no sooner than 30 days after notification to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, (2) approving the proposed budget control section process only for 2010-11, and (3) appropriating legal services funding in the budget. Detail
2/26/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Inmate mental health care staffing. Reject Governor’s 2010-11 budget proposal for authority to establish 45.4 additional mental health positions as well as to appropriate $9.8 million to support some of these positions, because the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not made a strong enough case to convert to a new staffing ratio model that would further increase the already significant and growing state costs for in-prison mental health care. Detail
2/26/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Activation of the Northern California Reentry Facility. Reject Governor's proposal to provide $8.4 million in additional General Fund support to activate the Northern California Reentry Facility in 2010-11 with 100 beds, given that the per inmate costs are significantly high and that there are no clear benefits to activating the facility early as proposed. Detail
2/23/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Reimbursements to counties for detaining new prison commitments. Withhold action on the Governor's proposed $10 million one-time General Fund augmentation to reimburse counties for detaining new prison commitments until the May Revision when updated information is available regarding county claims. Also require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report at budget hearings on what specific actions it is taking to reduce the number of prison commitments in county jail. Detail
2/23/2010 Judiciary Funding for trial court operations. Reject Governor's proposed General Fund augmentations totaling $117.9 million for trial courts—$100 million to fully restore a one-time reduction made in 2009-10 and $17.9 million for increased employee benefits costs—given the availability of other funds to support existing trial court operations and the state's current General Fund shortfall. Detail
2/23/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation California Out-of-State Correctional Facility (COCF) program. Reduce Governor's General Fund budget request to expand the COCF program by $547,000 in 2009-10 and $2.1 million in 2010-11, in order to eliminate funding and positions that do not relate directly to the program expansion. Also, consider extending the statutory July 1, 2011 sunset date on involuntary inmate transfers, rather than eliminate the sunset date as proposed by the administration. Detail
2/5/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation General Fund expenditures for correctional facilities. Delete the $23.9 million General Fund appropriation proposed by the Governor for two previously approved capital projects, as well as for planning and minor projects, and instead support these projects from funds already appropriated from the General Fund in Chapter 7, Statutes of 2007 (AB 900, Solorio). Detail
2/4/2010 Crosscutting Funding for public safety local assistance programs. Consider redirecting half the revenue from the temporary 0.15 percent increase in the vehicle license fee, which supports various public safety grant programs, to the General Fund. Remaining funds would support a consolidated juvenile justice program at a reduced level. Detail
1/26/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation The Governor proposes a constitutional amendment to (1) require at least 10 percent of annual state General Fund appropriations to be spent on the public universities and (2) limit state spending on corrections to no more than 7 percent of General Fund appropriations. We urge the Legislature to reject this proposal because it (1) would unwisely constrain the state's ability to allocate funding where it is most needed each year; and (2) is unnecessary, as the state already has the ability to shift funding among programs without this constitutional amendment. Detail
1/23/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Jail time instead of prison for specified felonies. Approve Governor's special proposal to require that certain offenders convicted of specified property and drug felony crimes serve a maximum sentence of 366 days in county jail in lieu of a state prison sentence, but modify it to (1) permit counties to place additional jail inmates on electronic home monitoring and (2) clarify that offenders who are charged with the specified crimes and have prior serious or violent offenses could still be tried for a misdemeanor, as is currently the case. Detail
1/23/2010 Judiciary Automated speed enforcement. Approve Governor's proposal to authorize local governments to use automated enforcement systems to identify individuals driving greater than the speed limit, but modify it to (1) establish fines identical to existing speeding fines, (2) deposit state's share of the revenues to the General Fund, and (3) increase oversight of fine collections. Also, consider changing how revenues would be allocated between the state and local governments and modifying the amount of projected fine revenues. Detail
1/22/2010 Department of Justice Increased penalty assessment for forensic laboratories. The Governor's special session proposal to increase an existing penalty assessment and expand the use of the assessment revenues to include non-DNA laboratories operated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) merits legislative consideration. Alternatively, the Legislature could require DOJ to charge local governments for the forensic services they provide. Detail
1/22/2010 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Adult prison population caseload. Reduce funding for adult prison population caseload by (1) $7.2 million in 2009-10 because actual data for the first half of the current year indicate that the population will be roughly 300 inmates lower on an annual basis than assumed in the Governor's budget for the current year and (2) $14.4 million in 2010-11 to correct a technical error in the department's population projections for the budget year.