The California Assembly passed a slimmed-down version of the prison reduction bill by the bare minimum of 41 votes. ("No" votes are irrelevant in the California Assembly. Any bill not getting 41 ayes does not pass.) Jim Sanders has this story in the SacBee. The text of the legislation is here.
Some provisions are relatively uncontroversial, such as adjusting the grand theft threshold for inflation. This is a very old problem. See 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 238-239 (1st ed. 1769).
Some changes are quite bad for the long term. Instead of earning time credits for working or even just not misbehaving, prisoners will now earn credits just for being warm bodies.
Fortunately, the worst of the Senate bill's provisions, delegating the authority to rewrite the state's sentencing law to an unelected commission, had to be stripped out to get enough votes to pass. The Senate leader says he will not allow a vote on the slimmed-down package. Okay, don't vote if you don't want to. No commission other than a strictly advisory one is coming out of the Assembly.
Some provisions are relatively uncontroversial, such as adjusting the grand theft threshold for inflation. This is a very old problem. See 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 238-239 (1st ed. 1769).
Some changes are quite bad for the long term. Instead of earning time credits for working or even just not misbehaving, prisoners will now earn credits just for being warm bodies.
Fortunately, the worst of the Senate bill's provisions, delegating the authority to rewrite the state's sentencing law to an unelected commission, had to be stripped out to get enough votes to pass. The Senate leader says he will not allow a vote on the slimmed-down package. Okay, don't vote if you don't want to. No commission other than a strictly advisory one is coming out of the Assembly.
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