State Senate Passes Modest Prison Reform

By the bare minimum, with 21 votes for, 19 against. We move to the Assembly now, and the Governor supports it, so if 41 votes can be found, we will have a real sentencing commission that can begin to roll back the Tough On Crime nonsense that has failed California's prison system and made us less safe.

It's going to be close in the Assembly. Word is that Democrats are balking at some of the provisions, because they don't think their constituents are adults who would understand how horribly broken the status quo has become. And serial liar and Yacht Party regular George Runner has vowed to put the legislation on the ballot if it passes, to overturn it (maybe he'll get the same convicted felon to fund it who did so for Prop. 9). This is just the beginning of the fight no matter what happens in the Assembly. But we have to get this through there. If we cannot bring an even modest reform across the line, there's really no hope.

I will reiterate what I said yesterday:

If you're in the districts of any of these lawmakers, contact them NOW and tell them to vote Yes on [ABX3 14 http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=abx3_14&sess=CUR&house=B&site=sen].

Alyson Huber (AD-10) (Calitics raised a fair bit of money for her)
Joan Buchanan (AD-15) (Does she want to win a liberal primary for Congress?)
Marty Block (AD-78)
Manuel Perez (AD-80) (Calitics raised a fair bit of money for him)
Ted Lieu (AD-53)
Pedro Nava (AD-35)
Alberto Torrico (AD-20)
Cathleen Galgiani (AD-17)
Anna Caballero (AD-28)