This came over the wire from Assemblyman Chris Norby’s office on Thursday…

NORBY NOTES APRIL, 2012 | ISSUE 09 WWW.ASM.CA.GOV/NORBY ASSEMBLYMEMBER.NORBY@ASSEMBLY.CA.GOV THIS ISSUE Huge Savings in Prison Reform Local Mega Millions Winners Weekly Calendar Question of the Week Huge Savings in Prison Reform Declining crime rates and a shrinking inmate population could mean huge savings in California’s correctional expenses. State prison expenditures have ballooned from just 3% of the state budget to nearly 10% in the past 30 years. Current proposals would be to bring that down to 7% by 2015 and cut nearly $4 billion in proposed construction costs. The governor’s realignment proposal is sending state inmates back to local county jails-where incarceration costs are considerably less. Falling crime rates have lessened demands for prison space. Alternate means of monitoring and treatment are far cheaper than imprisonment. The whole “war-on-drugs” model of costly confinement for essentially personal behavior is also being reexamined. Are non-violent drug users best handled by the criminal justice system or the public health system? Outpatient treatment is certainly far cheaper than incarceration. Cell blocks are far costlier than clinics. It costs considerably more to imprison an inmate ($50,000 annually) than to educate a student at a UC. Since 1980, the number of state inmates has increased four times that of our population, while costs have increased twenty-fold. The public must be protected from violent felons, but they are a minority of the overall prison population. Costs can be reduced without sacrificing public safety. Every dollar saved from the prison yard can be redirected to the schoolyard. Nationally, $200 billion is spent annually on prison costs. With just 5% of the world’s population, we have 25% of its inmates. Conservatives who have long said that just “throwing money at problems doesn’t solve them” are joining a bipartisan consensus in applying this to the criminal justice system. Republican Governors like Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) and Mitch Daniels (Indiana) have reduced both incarceration costs while also reducing crime. Texas is hardly been known as a soft-on-crime state. Yet it has reduced its incarceration rate by 8% and its crime rate by 6% while cutting prison costs by $200 million. Texas is also home to the Right on Crime Foundation, headed byGrover Norquist and ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush, which is taking a cost/benefit analysis of the U.S. prison system. We can be both tough and smart on crime at the same time. We can protect both public safety and the public’s pocket book. Local Mega Millions Winners The recent Mega Millions lottery drawing saw 3 winners in Illinois, Maryland, and Kansas hit a $656 million prize. Here in my district, one ticket sold at Stopper Liquor store in Placentia sold a ticket paying $308,573. A 7-Eleven on Ball Road in Anaheim sold a ticket with a $227,995 payout. Congratulations to the winners! Weekly Calendar April 25: State Capitol: Assembly Appropriations Committee Hearing Assembly Local Government Committee Hearing Assembly Education Committee (Vice-Chair) Hearing 113 bills heard April 26: State Capitol: Assembly Floor Session 12:00 Flight to OC Fullerton Farmers Market April 27: OC Courthouse: Victim’s Rights March & Rally District Office: afternoon appointments April 28: La Palma: Arbor Day Celebration LA Convention Center: County Sheriffs’ Indo-American Advisory Program April 29: First Presbyterian Church of Fullerton: Baptism of Johnathan Cardona Norby April 30: OC-Sacramento Flight State Capitol: Floor Session Question of the Week Last Week’s Question: What is the smallest Cal State University campus? Answer: California Maritime Academy (located in Vallejo), 905 students. This Week’s Question: Where is the oldest continually-occupied residence in California?

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