Total expenditures for judiciary and criminal justice programs are proposed to increase modestly in the budget year. The principal reasons for the increase are (1) proposed new and expanded state and local law enforcement and judicial programs and (2) increases in workload and caseload-driven programs. The number of state prison inmates and parolees is projected to increase in the budget year, but at a substantially slower rate than in recent years. The proposed increase in judiciary and criminal justice expenditures is partially offset by federal fund reimbursements for incarceration and supervision of undocumented immigrants which the budget assumes will remain flat in the budget year.
The budget proposes total expenditures of $7.5 billion for judiciary and criminal justice programs in 2000-01. This is an increase of $387 million, or 5.5 percent, above estimated current-year spending. The increase is due primarily to increases in the state's costs for support of the trial courts, the projected increase in the state's prison and parole populations, and new and expanded state and local criminal justice programs.
The budget proposes General Fund expenditures of $6.8 billion for judiciary and criminal justice programs, an increase of $334 million, or 5.2 percent, above estimated General Fund expenditures in the current year.
Figure 1 (see next page) shows expenditures from all state funds for judiciary and criminal justice programs since 1993-94. Expenditures for 1994-95 through 2000-01 have been reduced to reflect federal funds the state received or is expected to receive to offset the costs of incarceration and parole of undocumented felons. As Figure 1 shows, total expenditures for judiciary and criminal justice programs have increased by $3 billion since 1993-94, representing an average annual increase of 7.7 percent.
Figure 2 shows expenditures for the major judiciary and criminal justice programs in 1998-99, 1999-00, and as proposed for 2000-01. As the figure shows, the California Department of Corrections (CDC) accounts for the largest share of total spending in the criminal justice area.
| Figure 2 | |||||
| Judiciary and Criminal Justice Budget Summary | |||||
| 1998-99 Through 2000-01
(Dollars in Millions) | |||||
|
Actual 1998-99 |
Estimated 1999-00 |
Proposed 2000-01 |
Change From
1999-00 |
||
| Amount | Percent | ||||
| Department of Corrections | |||||
| General Fund | $3,966.1 | $4,168.5 | $4,318.4 | $149.9 | 3.6% |
| Special funds | 41.8 | 46.7 | 47.0 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Reimbursements and federal funds | 53.9 | 101.2 | 79.1 | -22.1 | -21.8 |
| Totals | $4,061.7 | $4,316.4 | $4,444.5 | $128.2 | 3.0% |
| Department of the Youth Authority | |||||
| General Fund | $310.8 | $336.5 | $329.6 | -$6.9 | -2.1% |
| Bond funds and special funds | 4.1 | 4.0 | 0.8 | -3.2 | -80.3 |
| Reimbursements and federal funds | 64.2 | 75.6 | 80.6 | 5.0 | 6.6 |
| Totals | $379.1 | $416.2 | $411.0 | -$5.2 | -1.2% |
| Federal offset for undocumented felons | $179.3 | $177.7 | $177.7 | -- | -- |
| Trial Court Funding | |||||
| General Fund | $699.2 | $949.1 | $1,050.0 | $100.9 | 10.6% |
| Special funds | 403.4 | 438.0 | 474.7 | 36.7 | 8.4 |
| County contribution | 554.5 | 457.6 | 459.4 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| Totals | $1,657.1 | $1,844.7 | $1,984.1 | $139.4 | 7.6% |
| Judicial | |||||
| General Fund | $207.7 | $254.1 | $279.9 | $25.8 | 10.2% |
| Other funds and reimbursements | 45.7 | 53.6 | 54.0 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| Totals | $253.3 | $307.6 | $333.9 | $26.3 | 8.5% |
| Department of Justice | |||||
| General Fund | $256.5 | $273.5 | $277.2 | $3.7 | 1.3% |
| Special funds | 72.4 | 97.1 | 103.8 | 6.7 | 6.9 |
| Federal funds | 30.3 | 43.3 | 37.5 | -5.9 | -13.5 |
| Reimbursements | 100.1 | 110.3 | 113.9 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| Totals | $459.3 | $524.2 | $532.4 | $8.1 | 1.5% |
Figure 3 (see page 10) presents the major budget changes resulting in a net increase of $387 million in total state spending for judiciary and criminal justice programs. Generally, the major changes can be categorized as follows:
The Budget Proposes to Provide Full Funding for Workload Increases, and Assumes Little Growth in Some Caseload-Driven Programs. The budget includes funding for projected growth in workload in court and state law enforcement programs and caseload growth in the prison inmate, ward, and parole populations. However, it assumes that the state's prison inmate population will increase by only 1.4 percent and the state's Youth Authority ward population will actually decrease by a slight amount in the budget year. In addition, the budget proposes several program augmentations, such as additional drug treatment for prison inmates and parolees, which could slow growth in the populations even more. (We discuss the inmate population trends in our analysis of CDC later in this chapter.)
The budget does not propose to construct any new state-operated prisons, but assumes continued work on the new Delano facility authorized last year.
The Budget Proposes Several Program Initiatives. The budget proposes a number of new and expanded criminal justice programs. The largest is $100 million for a new one-time grant program in the Office of Criminal Justice Planning to provide funds to local law enforcement agencies for technology and equipment ($75 million) and school safety, juvenile crime, and anti-gang efforts ($25 million). In addition, the budget proposes to add $21 million to the existing $100 million Citizens Option for Public Safety (COPS) program which provides funds on a per capita basis to local governments for criminal justice programs.
The budget also proposes augmentations for new and expanded programs in the courts (including $16.8 million for jury service programs and $10 million for court services for families and children) and CDC (including $29.8 million for drug treatment for inmates and parolees and $14.4 million for additional parole supervision programs).
The Budget Assumes that Federal Fund Reimbursements for Incarceration and Parole of Undocumented Immigrant Offenders Will Remain Flat. The budget assumes that the state will receive $178 million in federal funds in each 1999-00 and 2000-01 to offset the state's costs to incarcerate and supervise undocumented immigrants in CDC and the Department of the Youth Authority. This amount is almost identical to the amount the state received in 1998-99. These federal funds are counted as offsets to state expenditures and are not shown in the budgets of CDC and the Youth Authority, or in the budget bill. The administration also assumes that Congress will reauthorize the federal program that provides the funds, which will expire at the end of the current federal fiscal year.
| Figure 3 | |||||
| Judiciary and Criminal Justice
Proposed Major Changes for 2000-01 All State Funds | |||||
| Department of Corrections | Requested: | $4.4 billion | |||
| Increase: | $128 million | (+3.0%) | |||
| + $85.4 million for employee compensation adjustments | |||||
| + $85.4 million for various program changes | |||||
| + $9.2 million for inmate and parole caseload adjustments | |||||
| 0 $16.3 million for retirement contribution adjustments | |||||
| Trial Court Funding | Requested: | $2 billion | |||
| Increase: | $139 million | (+7.6%) | |||
| + $22 million one-time funding for case processing in the trial courts | |||||
| + $20 million for negotiated salary increases for trial court employees | |||||
| + $16.8 million for one day/one trial jury service and increased juror compensation | |||||
| + $13.2 million for a 5 percent salary increase for judicial officers | |||||
| + $10 million for court services for families and children | |||||
| Department of Justice | Requested: | $532 million | |||
| Increase: | $8.1 million | (+1.5%) | |||
| + $6 million for False Claims Act litigation | |||||
| + $5.1 million to address DNA workload | |||||
| + $3.8 million for enforcement of the settlement between the states and the tobacco companies | |||||