February 15, 2013 - The Governor’s 2013-14 budget for criminal justice programs is relatively flat. It contains few major proposals for the judiciary or corrections compared with recent years when the state budget included significant budget cuts to programs, as well as major policy changes. In total, the Governor's budget provides $13.2 billion for criminal justice programs in 2013-14. This is an increase of about 2 percent over estimated current-year expenditures. In this report, we review the Governor’s 2013-14 budget proposals for criminal justice programs, including the judicial branch, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Board of State and Community Corrections, and the Department of Justice. We identify concerns with several of the proposals and make recommendations for legislative consideration. In some cases, we identify proposals that we think should be rejected or modified, resulting in several million dollars of General Fund savings. We also identify several issues that we think would benefit from additional legislative oversight. These include (1) how trial courts will implement budget reductions in coming years, particularly in the absence of reserves beginning in 2014-15, (2) the new staffing methodology being implemented by the federal court-appointed Receiver currently managing the state’s inmate medical system, and (3) efforts by the Board of State and Community Corrections to meet its statutory mission to assist local agencies improve criminal justice outcomes through technical assistance and data collection.
October 8, 1997 - The 1997-98 budget, signed into law by Governor Wilson on August 18, 1997, authorizes total state spending of $67.2 billion, including $52.8 billion from the General Fund and $14.4 billion from special funds.
May 27, 2016 - State law tasks the Commission on State Mandates with determining whether new state laws or regulations affecting local governments create state-reimbursable mandates. Typically, the process for determining whether a law or regulation is a state-reimbursable mandate takes several years. State law further requires our office to analyze any new mandates identified by the commission as part of our annual analysis of the proposed state budget. In particular, state law directs our office to report on the annual state costs for new mandates and make recommendations to the Legislature as to whether the new mandates should be repealed, funded, suspended, or modified. In this budget post, we discuss the Sheriff Court-Security Services mandate.
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.
January 25, 2011 - In this brief, we (1) provide an overview of the Governor’s budget proposals for the judicial branch and (2) recommend specific actions to achieve savings, while at the same time minimizing the impacts on access to the courts. Some of our cost-saving recommendations include changes in court reporting practices, utilizing competitive bidding for court security, contracting out for court interpreter services, and offsetting General Fund costs with other fund sources in the judicial branch.
January 30, 2009 - In this report, we identify issues and present recommendations related to the Judicial and Criminal Justice systems. These include presenting an alternative package of correctional population proposals that attempts to provide a better balance between the need to achieve budgetary savings and the goal of protecting public safety. Our alternative essentially builds upon the Governor’s proposals by modifying the direct discharge proposal and replacing it with earned discharge from parole. We also identify several issues regarding the federal court–appointed Receiver’s health care construction program that merit legislative consideration. For example, we note that the need for the 10,000 new health care beds proposed by the Receiver remains uncertain. In addition, the costs identified by the Receiver to operate the proposed new health care facilities would be significant—exceeding $1 billion annually upon full implementation.
October 22, 2020 - This post provides an overview of the major judiciary and criminal justice proposals approved as part of the 2020-21 budget package. 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. This is a decrease of $207 million, or 1.3 percent, below the revised 2019 20 spending level.
September 26, 2022 - The 2022-23 budget provides $18.7 billion from the General Fund for judicial and criminal justice programs, including support for program operations and capital outlay projects. This is an increase of $852 million, or 5 percent, above the revised 2021-22 spending level.
April 9, 2018 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety
March 1, 1995 - The 1995-96 Governor's Budget includes a realignment proposal which would increase county funding responsibility for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program and for several children's services programs. Most of the additional county costs would be offset by increasing the state share of the trial court program and by a transfer of sales tax and trial court revenues to the counties.
February 19, 2003 - Analysis of the 2003-04 Budget Bill, Judiciary and Criminal Justice Chapter
August 11, 2011 - The 2011–12 state spending plan includes total budget expenditures of $120.1 billion from the General Fund and special funds. This consists of $85.9 billion from the General Fund and $34.1 billion from special funds. While General Fund spending has dropped by around 6 percent from 2010–11, this has, in part, been offset by increases in special fund spending as the state shifts some programs—from state to local responsibility under what has been called "realignment"—from General Fund support to special fund support. Federal funds spending continues to decline with the expiration of much of the funding made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
November 1, 1985 - This report summarizes the fiscal effect of legislation enacted during the 1985 Regular Session of the California Legislature. It is intended to supplement and update our July 1985 report entitled: Summary of Legislative Action on the Budget Bill, 1985-86 Fiscal Year.