May 29, 2008 2:44 pm US/Pacific
Calif. Senate Rejects $7B Bond For Inmate Health
SACRAMENTO (AP) ―
For the second time this week, the state Senate on Thursday rejected a $7 billion borrowing plan to provide better health care for prison inmates.
The receiver appointed by a federal court to oversee inmate health care threatened that the alternative is to take the money directly from the state treasury. Doing so would cut into other state services at a time the state is facing a $15.2 billion budget deficit.
The spending proposal by court-appointed receiver J. Clark Kelso fell four votes short of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. The roll call vote was 23-14, but the bill could be called again for additional votes.
Republicans again objected to giving the receiver more money instead of relying on a separate $7.4 billion construction bond approved a year ago by lawmakers and the governor. That money will fund 53,000 prison and jail cells to ease prison crowding.
Kelso said he needs at least part of his money immediately to start designing and building seven care facilities across the state. They would house 10,000 ill and mentally ill inmates.
In a letter Thursday, Kelso told the state Department of Finance that he "can no longer stand idly by while the state continues its pattern of prevarication."
Taking the $7 billion from California's general fund would mean less money for other state programs, Democrats warned Thursday.
The receiver wants $70 million immediately and $3.4 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1. He wants $2 billion in the 2009-10 fiscal year and $1.5 billion the year after that.
If the state refuses, Kelso could ask a federal judge to order the payments.
"This is a dangerous game of 'chicken,"' said Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "Be careful what you wish for."
Lawsuits on behalf of inmates have prompted the federal courts to step in and oversee several aspects of the state prison system.
Most of the problems, including unconstitutionally poor health care and mental health services, stem from overcrowding in California's 33 prisons. With 170,000 inmates, the system is about 70 percent over capacity, with many prisoners warehoused in converted gyms and hallways.
Rather than approving the court receiver's request for $7 billion, Republicans say it would be prudent to await the outcome of a proposed legal settlement that could affect the various prison-related lawsuits.
If ultimately approved, that settlement could reduce the prisons' population. That could lead to a decline in the need for inmate medical and mental health services.
Proper treatment has suffered as the prisons have become more cramped, say the prison advocates who have sued the state.
The proposed settlement between the state, inmate advocates and law enforcement authorities was announced May 19.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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