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Juvenile Justice Program :: Reports

Reports | About The Juvenile Justice Program

California Budget Bulletin:

Governor's Budget Proposal Adds $428 Million For After School Programs

Governor Proposes Full Funding For The Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, And For Juvenile Probation Camps And Services

Governor Adds $60 Million To The State Youth Corrections Budget For Compliance With The Farrell Litigation

January 13, 2006
By David Steinhart, Director
Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program

On January 10th, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released his FY 06-07 proposed Budget. In this new budget, the Governor supports more generous funding for education and social programs. With revenues up, and after losing his budget control initiative in November, Schwarzenegger appears to be relaxing the noose he had tightened last year around education and social welfare programs.

In the areas of youth crime and violence prevention, some of the Governor's relevant budget proposals are:

• After School Programs. The Governor's FY 06-07 Budget includes an additional $428 million for Proposition 49 (Before and After School) programs, over and above the $122 million appropriated last year. This increase in Proposition 49 expenditures is mandated by the terms of the initiative, because non-Prop 98 expenditures this year will exceed baseline expenditures by the $1.5 billion "trigger" amount. Elizabeth Hill, the state's Legislative Analyst, anticipated the "trigger" increase in Prop 49 funds and, before the Governor's Budget was released, recommended that the initiative be repealed or at least downsized by the Legislature. In her view, this huge appropriation for one program could be better utilized to meet "base education needs" that vary from one school district to another. In a press release on January 9th, the Governor dismissed Hill's views and endorsed full funding for Proposition 49. In his press release, the Governor said:

  Three years ago I authored and campaigned for Proposition 49 because I saw that too many kids had no guidance when the school day ended. Today I am happy to say because of our responsible fiscal policies and improving economy, we are fully funding these important after school programs for the first time ever with more than $400 million.

  Lawmakers can still try to change the trigger provisions of Proposition 49, but they will need a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to do it, and the Governor has made it clear that he will not support such a move.

• County Juvenile Justice Programs. The Governor's Budget proposes full funding $100 million) for the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act. Last year, in a "trailer bill" amending the FY 05-06 Budget Act, funds for the JJCPA were cut by $73 million as a "one time adjustment" of the annual appropriation. This "adjustment" did not disrupt county-level JJCPA programs, but rather only changed the timing of the cash-flow from state to local government, putting the whole JJCPA funding stream on a slightly delayed payment cycle. The JJCPA and the companion COPS program would continue to be funded as a linked pair of crime-prevention programs at $100 million each ($200 million total) for FY 06-07, under the Governor's proposal.
• Probation subsidy funds. Until recently, county probation departments received about $200 million per year in federal "TANF" dollars to support juvenile probation camps and youth treatment programs. This funding stream de-stabilized over the last two years, as lawmakers sought to move the $200 million in federal funds to plug gaps in child welfare programs. If the TANF dollars had been taken away from probation, with no makeup state funds, juvenile probation camps in many counties would have been forced to close, and juvenile probation services at the county level would have been seriously impaired. Lawmakers solved the dilemma by cutting the federal TANF dollars from probation while also appropriating $203 million in state General Funds to local probation departments in last year's budget. These funds were appropriated to and administered by the Corrections Standards Authority ("CSA"-- formerly, the state Board of Corrections). For FY 06-07, the Governor has proposed to maintain this CSA appropriation of state General Funds to probation departments, for juvenile justice facilities and programs, at last year's level of $203 million.
• Division of Juvenile Justice. ("DJJ"-- formerly, the California Youth Authority). The Governor's proposed budget for FY 06-07 adds approximately $60 million in state General Funds to the DJJ budget to pay for compliance with the Farrell v. Hickman litigation. This would raise the total DJJ budget to about $ 457 million for FY 06-07. Most of the new funding ($53 million) supports implementation of DJJ's Ward Safety and Welfare Plan, filed with the Farrell court on November 30, 2005. Another $7.5 million is proposed for changes in health care at DJJ. Under the Ward Safety and Welfare Plan, unit occupancy would be lowered (to 35 or fewer wards, "open programming" would be phased in and other changes would be made to conform to the youth corrections model that the parties to the litigation have accepted. To implement the Ward Safety and Welfare Plan, the Governor budgets funds for 369 new full time positions at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Meanwhile, the Plan is still being questioned by lawmakers and reform advocates, and it is presently being revised by a panel of experts hired by agreement between DJJ and the Prison Law Office. Notably absent from the Governor's corrections budget proposal: any funding to support changes in the makeup of the DJJ population, changes in state-county juvenile justice responsibilities or revamping of DJJ facilities. In its November 30th filing in the Farrell case, and in a December 1 report on DJJ reform plans to the Legislature, DJJ did propose to replace the Karl Holton facility in Stockton with a state-of-the-art treatment facility serving 250 wards. Other plans affecting population management, programs and parole supervision were also offered in the December 1st legislative report. Immediately thereafter, on December 5, Senator Gloria Romero (D. - LA), Chair of the Senate Select Committee on California Corrections, convened a hearing on DJJ's newly released plans. Romero expressed disappointment with DJJ, saying that the administration had failed to identify the offender population to be served by the reformed system and that the December plans were fatally flawed as a result. In the hearing, flanked by committee member Mike Machado (D.- Stockton), Romero warned DJJ Director Bernard Warner that she would insist on a zero-based budget for DJJ this year, meaning that DJJ could not take its $400+ million appropriation for-granted but would instead have to justify each proposed expenditure from the ground up. Warner, after an awkward exchange with the Chair in which he tried to defend DJJ's plans as filed, reluctantly agreed to "leave options open", including possible changes in the ward population and DJJ facilities, for future discussion. Warner's appointment to the top job at DJJ remains subject to Senate confirmation in hearings to be held later this year.