Madison Aument
For 91.9 KVCR News, I’m Madison Aument. This is Economics IE. Prop 36… which allows felony charges and increased sentences for certain drug and theft crimes… passed with broad support. Here in the Inland Empire, the San Bernardino County board of supervisors and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco were strong proponents of it. I spoke with Caitlin O’Neil with the Legislative Analyst Office… a nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor for the state government… to help parse out the potential fiscal impact of Prop 36. So how will prop 36 increase state criminal justice costs?
Caitlin O’Neil
We estimate that Proposition 36 will increase state criminal justice costs in two primary ways. The first of those is that it will increase the state prison population, and that's because it will require some people who now serve their sentences in county jail or under county probation to instead serve them in state prison. And it will also lengthen some people's prison sentences. For some people who are already going to prison, they'll just go there for longer. And in total, we estimate that the prison population could increase by around a few thousand people. The second way that Prop 36 will increase state costs, state criminal justice costs, is by increasing state court workload, and that's because felony cases usually take more time to resolve the misdemeanors, and Prop 36 will convert some misdemeanor cases to felonies. In total, we estimate that Prop 36 will increase criminal justice costs, likely ranging from several 10s of millions of dollars to the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Madison Aument
And then, how will it increase local criminal justice costs?
Caitlin O’Neil
We estimate that Prop 36 will increase local criminal justice costs again, in two primary ways. The first is that it will, we estimate it will cause a net increase in the county jail and Community Supervision population. And the reason I say net is because in some ways, Proposition 36 will reduce the jail and community supervision population. Because it will cause some people who currently remain at the county level to instead go to state prison. In other ways, it will increase the local population, because some people will spend more time at the county jail or under supervision than they do now. Overall, we estimate that Prop 36 will likely increase the county population by around a few thousand people. And the second way that Proposition 36 will increase county or local court related workload is that it will increase workload for local prosecutors and public defenders, because felony cases take more of their time than misdemeanor cases do. In addition, the treatment mandated felony component of Proposition 36 would likely create some workload for county agencies like probation or behavioral health departments involved in providing some of the services associated with that component of the measure. And in total, we estimate that Proposition 36 will increase local criminal justice costs, likely by the 10s of millions of dollars annually.
Madison Aument
What will Prop 36 impact be on the required state spending under Prop 47?
Caitlin O’Neil
Proposition 47 which was approved by the voters in 2014 and created a process in which the estimated savings to the state from its punishment reductions must be spent on mental health and drug treatment school truancy and dropout prevention and victim services. Those estimated state savings from Prop 47 totaled 95 million last year, for context, so by undoing portions of those punishment reductions that were in Proposition 47, Proposition 36 reduces the estimated state savings from Prop 47, which would in turn reduce the amount of money that the state is required to spend on an annual basis on those designated purposes. That is mental health and drug treatment school truancy and dropout prevention and victim services, and so the reduction in that required spending…we estimate will be in the low 10s of millions of dollars annually.
Madison Aument
That was Caitlin O’Neil with the Legislative Analyst's Office. Join us again next Monday for Economics IE. You can find this segment and others on our website, at kvcrnews.org/econie. Support for this segment comes from the Nowak Family for KVCR News, I'm Madison Aument.