Gavin Newsom pledges criminal justice plan + Child poverty + Priorities summit
Good morning! Hannah’s on vacation so this one is a team effort from The Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau.
LOOK FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN NEWSOM’S BUDGET
Loyal Capitol Alert readers might remember that this year’s reporting partnership with ProPublica started in Fresno, where we investigated an especially deadly year in the county’s jail and the effects of California’s prison reforms.
So it made sense on Friday that The Fresno Bee’s editorial board would ask Gov. Gavin Newsom about jail oversight during a wide-ranging interview.
The governor made some news: He’s exploring changes to jail oversight and the state’s involvement in county facilities.
“I’m generally not satisfied with oversight, period. Across the board,” Newsom said when asked about the state’s supervision of county jails. Local facilities house about 70,000 inmates and have taken on increased responsibilities since 2011 reforms called “realignment” diverted people — and billions of taxpayer dollars — away from state prisons.
There’s “not a lot of accountability and oversight in terms of these issues and county jails,” he added. Neither he nor his spokeswoman offered specifics, but Newsom plans to unveil any changes in his state budget proposal in January.
Newsom’s comments came three days after we detailed how a state inspector in 2018 called out Kern County’s staff for more than two dozen violations in a routine review of jail facilities. Most of the violations involved issuing $60 Theraband yoga mats to inmates locked in suicide watch cells — exercise mats they used as beds in rooms devoid of anything else.
But the state’s jail oversight group was powerless to force them to stop them.
“We are not enforcement” the head of inspections for the California’s Board of State and Community Corrections told us.
Lawmakers are also saying they plan to increase their oversight efforts.
Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, chairs the California Senate Public Safety Committee and said “there’s a lot of frustration” about how passive the state board has been in overseeing county jails.
And citing our investigation last week, Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, on Tuesday told us he plans to renew his push for stronger oversight of county sheriffs, who run local jails.
“This report is yet another example of mental health abuses, negligence, and lack of proper oversight by a county sheriff’s department,” McCarty said in a statement Tuesday. “This type of lax oversight results in lawsuits and settlements where taxpayers continue to foot the bill and pay for the misconduct of our sheriff’s departments across California.”
CRIMINAL COPS INVESTIGATION
State lawmakers said this week that it’s time for California to consider joining 45 other states that can revoke the badges of officers who commit crimes and other serious misconduct.
The call for action comes in the wake of a six-month investigation from a statewide coalition of news organizations, including McClatchy, that revealed more than 80 law enforcement officers working today in California have a prior criminal conviction.
“We need to do something about this,” said state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat and member of the Public Safety Committee representing Santa Barbara and part of Ventura County. “Having convicted criminals on our police force is just not O.K. in any way, shape or form.”
Check out the full reaction here, as reported by The Bay Area News Group and UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program.
CHILD POVERTY
The End Child Poverty CA Campaign has a new ally: The Dolores Huerta Foundation.
California has the highest percentage of children living in poverty in the nation. An estimated 450,000 California children live in “deep” poverty, while more than 200,000 are homeless.
”How can anyone sleep at night knowing that children are in poverty? We have to make this a priority in everybody’s mind,” Huerta, who heads the foundation, said in prepared remarks. “The groundwork has been done. So we know what we have to do together. It’s just up to us now. Sí se puede, we can do it.”
The End Child Poverty CA Campaign’s coalition of more than 60 organizations advocated this year for state budget items that included $5 billion in funds to address child poverty, according to a campaign statement.
PRIORITIES SUMMIT
The Sacramento Bee is hosting its second annual California Priorities Summit, where state policy experts will lead discussions on some of California’s most significant issues as viewed through a lens of inclusivity.
We’re expecting a great turnout. You can RSVP here.
We’ll be hosting panel discussions led by Sacramento Bee Politics Editor Amy Chance, CalMatters Senior Editor Dan Morain and Bee transportation reporter Tony Bizjak. Stop by and say hello.
Best of The Bee:
- ‘Epidemic’ of layoffs in California marijuana industry — CEO faults state for inaction by Andrew Sheeler
- Decoding Devin Nunes’ opening statement at impeachment hearing by Kate Irby
- Despite Newsom’s high-speed rail plan, some on project’s board have other spending ideas by Tim Sheehan