Legislative Analyst's Office Analysis of the 2001-02 Budget Bill

Overview

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 funding for state and local law enforcement and judicial programs and (2) growth in workload and slight increases in caseload-driven programs. The number of state prison inmates and parolees is projected to increase slightly in the budget year, but at a substantially slower rate than experienced through much of the 1990s.

The budget proposes total expenditures of $8.2 billion for judiciary and criminal justice programs in 2001-02. This is an increase of $300 million, or 3.8 percent, above estimated current-year spending. The increase is due primarily to a projected increase in the state's prison and parole populations, new and expanded state and local criminal justice programs, and increases in the cost of state support for trial courts.

General Fund expenditures are estimated to total $7.5 billion for judiciary and criminal justice programs which is an increase of $224 million, or 3.1 percent, above estimated General Fund expenditures in the current year.

Figure 1 shows expenditures from all state funds for judiciary and criminal justice programs since 1994-95. Expenditures for 1995-96 through 2001-02 have been reduced to reflect federal funds the state has 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 $3.5 billion since 1994-95, representing an average annual increase of 8.2 percent.

_{Spending by Major Program}

Figure 2 shows expenditures from all sources for the major judiciary and criminal justice programs in 1999-00, 2000-01, and as proposed for 2001-02. As the figure shows, the California Department of Corrections (CDC) accounts for the largest share of total spending in the criminal justice area.

_{Major Budget Changes}

Figure 3 presents the major budget changes for judiciary and criminal justice programs. These changes are described below:

Full Funding for Workload Increases and Little Growth in Caseload-Driven Correctional Programs. The budget includes full funding for caseload growth in the prison inmate, ward, and parole populations, and projected workload growth in court and state law enforcement programs. It assumes, however, that the state's prison inmate population will increase by only 1.8 percent. (We discuss inmate population trends in our analysis of CDC later in this chapter.) The state's Youth Authority ward population will actually decrease by a slight amount in the budget year.

The budget does not propose to construct any new state-operated prisons, but assumes continued work on the new Delano facility authorized in 1998.

Several New Criminal Justice Initiatives. The budget proposes a number of new criminal justice programs, and continues recent expansions of others. The largest initiative is $40 million for a War on Methamphetamine program in the Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP) to provide one-time funds to local law enforcement agencies for equipment and training ($25 million) and ongoing funds for enforcement activities ($15 million). The budget proposes $30 million for OCJP for equipment and construction grants for local forensic laboratories and $11 million for high-technology crime programs. In addition, the budget proposes to continue $243 million in funds for the Citizens' Option for Public Safety program which provides support to local governments on a per-capita basis for juvenile and criminal justice programs. Finally, the budget again includes $75 million in one-time funds for local law enforcement technology equipment grants.

Escalating Costs for Trial Courts. In the area of trial court funding, the budget also proposes expanded support for court security ($22.5 million), the increased cost of county-provided services which the state is now obligated to pay ($8.1 million), additional family and children services ($10 million), and a variety of smaller program increases.

Correctional Programs Contain Few New Program Initiatives. In CDC, budget increases are aimed primarily at ongoing programs including pharmacy and contract medical costs ($82.8 million), employee compensation ($63.7 million), enhanced facility security ($58.3 million), and medical and mental health services ($32 million). In the California Youth Authority (CYA), the budget proposes several increases totaling $7.4 million for treatment and aftercare in the areas of sex offenders, mental health, and substance abuse.

Slight Increase in Federal Reimbursements for Incarceration and Parole of Undocumented Immigrant Offenders. The budget assumes that the state will receive $189.2 million in federal funds in 2001-02 to offset the state's costs to incarcerate and supervise undocumented immigrants in CDC and CYA. This amount is slightly higher than the amount the state received in 2000-01. These federal funds are counted as offsets to state expenditures and are not shown in the budgets of either department or in the budget bill.