The California state budget is so late, it's setting records -- and there's no deal in sight. To put pressure on legislators, the governor isn't signing any legislation until there’s a budget. To put pressure on the governor, the prison guards are saying they will finance a gubernatorial recall election (again). It's total deadlock!
We have already waited years for our legislators to champion the systemic reforms necessary to stop letting addiction drive our incarceration rates (reforms that are in Proposition 5). And now they can't pass the annual budget?!
There’s no mystery about what needs to be done: we need Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA).
Year after
year after
year, experts tell legislators that the state's policies toward nonviolent offenders, especially low-level drug offenders, are wrong, costly and counterproductive. The experts have said
again and
again that what we need to do is address young people's drug problems as early as possible and expand access to drug treatment and rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders both in the community and behind bars.
The sad truth is that Sacramento lacks the political will to implement these proven reforms because it would mean going against the entrenched law enforcement lobby. This is the same lobby that is now leading the fight against Prop. 5 -- precisely because the measure follows the experts' advice and, in so doing, violates law enforcement's "lock 'em up and throw away the key" philosophy.
Want some good news out of California this week? There are only weeks to wait! Prop. 5 combines decades of expert recommendations into one historic reform package -- and gives voters the power. We’ve waited long enough for Sacramento. It’s up to the voters on November 4!
