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California is $2 Billion More In Debt as of Friday

By Jeremy Bearer-Friend

Last Friday, the Department of Corrections succeeded in fleecing another $2 billion from the State, thanks to the rubber stamp of the State Public Works Board. The money will provide interim financing for California's meteoric prison expansion bill, AB 900.

At 10am on March 14th, a standing room only crowd peppered with party reps and journalists from across the state awaited the start of the session. By 10:30 am, the Board had approved interim financing for all three AB 900 bonds in three separate 5-0 votes.

A letter from Senator Carole Migden, Legislative Adviser to the Public Works Board and Chair of the Democratic Caucus, explained, "Due to the State's current financial crisis, I do not believe it is fiscally prudent to authorize lease revenue bonds which will increase the State's structural deficit." Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, Chair of the Budget Subcommittee on Education, submitted a similar letter requesting a delay.

During public comment, five separate organizations testified to the necessity of delaying interim financing for the AB 900 bonds. Not only is California in the midst of a budget crisis threatening to dismantle our already struggling public school system, the Department of Corrections has been reported to have no finalized plans for how it will use the additional money.

But all requests were summarily disregarded as the Board funneled billions into the Department of Corrections.

It's hard to find a better example of bad public policy than AB 900. Billed by the New York Times as "the largest single prison construction program in the nation's history", AB 900 is slated to double California's structural debt over the next few years.

At last February's Public Safety Hearing, both Senator Romero and the Legislative Analyst's Office made the Department of Corrections look more like a paper shuffler than a functional state agency. With the total number of proposed new beds tumbling, projected construction costs tripling and counties across the state rejecting most proposals for the new mini-prisons, it's hard to see much progress on AB 900.

It's also important to note that conversations about the current budget crisis don't even include the cost of AB 900. Proposing to build tens of thousands of new prison cells at the cost of $222,000 per cell, AB 900 is entirely paid for in bond money with double-digit interest rates. AB 900 also does not include any funding for the operating costs of prisons.

As we have seen before, building more prisons doesn't solve overcrowding. California has built 23 prisons in the last 23 years and each one of these prisons is now overcrowded. Hopefully, the Legislature's new leadership will finally acknowledge that we can't build our way out of this problem and repeal the exorbitant charade known as AB 900.

As a Visiting Fellow at Justice Now, Jeremy Bearer-Friend works with Californians United for a Responsible Budget to cut prison spending by reducing the number of people inside prisons. An educator at heart, over the past ten years Jeremy has taught within public schools, private schools, home schools, after-school programs, museums, colleges and prisons.

Posted on March 17, 2008

Comments

This is the worst possible time to throw more money into building prisons. We just lost a Goliath of Wall Street, Bears and Stearns to bankruptcy. A company that was worth billions and billions was reduced to $256 million, The buyout offered by JP Morgan. That's lottery money. They survived the great depression but they didn't survive this. Take your heads out of the sand and pay attention. This is going to go much deeper than anyone is saying. They better start releasing inmates and reforming sentencing and parole to save maximum dollars and soon. They can do this so much cheaper but it has always been more about job creation for law enforcement than public safety and fiscal responsibility. How many schools are you willing to close California before you wake up?

Posted by: Morris1 at March 17, 2008 06:58 PM

If the Revolutionaries in the government would have respected the will of, "We the People" and enacted Proposition 187 instead of deceitfully overturning it we may have avoided these problems.

Not only is this affecting the school budget, we have been lied to, cheated, and stolen from in regards to illegal immigration for so long many of us no longer believe a word they say.

Posted by: Carson at March 17, 2008 07:29 PM

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