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Juvenile Justice Program :: Reports

Reports | About The Juvenile Justice Program

California Budget Update:

Governor's Fy 04-05 May Budget Revision Preserves Funds For Youth Safety Programs - But, no Restoration of Probation TANF Funds

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's May Budget Revision, released yesterday afternoon, has maintained or increased January Budget proposed expenditure levels for youth crime and violence prevention ("youth safety") programs. Some highlights are:

• After school basic finding (Prop 49) remains at $121.5 million for FY 04-05. The Governor has also increased the federal allocation to after school programs (21st Century Community Learning Centers) substantially (by $163 million) for the budget year as part of a broader welfare spending change that shifts CalWorks child care costs into after school programs, increasing after school child care slots statewide, especially for 11-12 year olds.
• School safety funding remains unchanged from the January proposed level of $ 99.6 million (including, this year, some $17 million in smaller youth safety programs that will be consolidated into the school safety block grant).
• Schiff Cardenas Crime Prevention Act (CPA): There is no change from the January proposed fund level for CPA for FY 04-05 ($100 million). Some spending requirements for the COPS program, (an additional $100 million tied to the CPA) are proposed for modification in the May Revision.
• TANF Probation funds ($200 million in federal funds for probation camps and local juvenile justice services) were not restored to Probation in this Budget Revision; the debate continues in the Capitol over the future of county probation facilities and programs that will be sacrificed if these TANF funds are moved to CalWorks, as the Governor still proposes to do.
• Youth Authority's budget is up by $10 million for FY 04-05, over the January Budget, due to projected caseload increases. The May Revision notes there will be additional costs related to court-mandated remedies in the Prison Law Office lawsuit against CYA-but as these have not yet been determined, no price tag is put on them.
• Board of Corrections is allocated $500,000 in new funds for FY 04-05 for planning purposes to implement the recommendations of the Governor's Juvenile Justice Working Group on statewide juvenile justice reforms.
• In all, corrections spending for FY 04-05 is still proposed at 15% above the FY 03-04 level, even with all the legislative scrutiny and controversy surrounding costs and conditions at CDC and CYA. Youth and Adult Corrections remains the fourth largest segment of the state General Fund Budget, at 8% of all General Fund, behind Education, Health and Human Services and Higher Education. Policy debates continue on corrections reforms, including the Governor's pledge to renegotiate approximately $300 million in CCPOA (guards' union) contracts and the yet-to-be-announced restructuring plan of the Deukmejian Corrections Independent Review Panel.