Assembly Democrats continued Tuesday to bat down legislation they see as weakening Gov. Jerry Brown's prison realignment program, including a bill that would return sex offenders who violate parole to state prison.
"We are tweaking a flawed program," said Assemblyman Eric
Linder (R-Corona), whose bill mirrored a similar measure already voted
down by the Public Safety Committee that would have allowed judges to
return to prison sex offenders who violate parole.
"I do think it's a little early in the game. I'm not saying there couldn't be real tweaks," said committee Chairman Tom Ammiano
(D-San Francisco), before leading a 2-4 vote to block Linder's bill. He
noted that California is giving counties money to address the local
impacts of prison realignment.
The 2011 realignment bill
gave counties responsibility for jailing low-level felons who formerly
went to prison, and as well required them to house state parole
violators. Judges in some counties with overcrowded jails have adopted
policies to release those parole violators from jail early, including
sex offenders who increasingly are removing their state-issued GPS
trackers.
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