Today Is The Day For CA Leadership To Shine Through On Prison Reform

Sentencing reform is one of the many bills on the docket today, which looks to be the last day for the California Legislature, though that's subject to change. In my view this is the signature issue the legislature faces: will they step up and respond to an crisis, or will they cower in the face of having to be "tough on crime" and reject anything but building our way out of the prison problem. Frank Russo defines the terms here. Basically there are two bills, each of which has passed their respective chamber. SB 110 (by Sen. Gloria Romero) calls for an independent sentencing commission without restrictions on what sentences they can look at; AB 160 appears to restrict anything passed through the initiative process, which shields three strikes. Apparently there's a third bill in the mix:

• Both SB 110 (Romero), which failed on the Assembly floor 34 to 38 and which can be brought up under reconsideration, and AB 160 (Lieber), which had been holed up in the Senate Rules Committee and has been sprung to the Senate floor, can be voted on. If Romero’s bill advances, there is a play with AB 1708 (Swanson) on the Senate floor that could amend SB 110, clean it up, and perhaps make it more acceptable to the Assembly. Both houses of the legislature have passed fairly similar sentencing commission bills, although with heated debates and opposition from Republicans.

Whether it's intra-legislative jealousy between the chambers or a desire to look tough to voters, if nothing moves on sentencing today, our representatives will have a lot to answer for. This is worth a phone call to your Assemblymember and Senator today.