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Sacramento – The California Assembly’s Committee on Public Safety approved a bill Tuesday that would reform California’s drug sentencing laws for simple possession, significantly reduce incarceration costs for counties and help the state end its ongoing incarceration crisis.
S.B. 649, the Local Control in Sentencing Act, authored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), now moves to the full Assembly for consideration, the final hurdle before reaching Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk.
“We know that rehabilitation to help low level offenders successfully reenter their communities reduces crime,” said Leno. “But we’re doing the exact opposite. We give non-violent drug offenders long terms in custody, offer them no treatment while they’re incarcerated and then release them back into the community with few or no prospects for housing, jobs or education. S.B. 649 gives prosecutors and judges the flexibility to choose reduced penalties for deserving defendants, who can then benefit from proven alternatives that reserve limited jail space for serious criminals and ultimately make our communities safer and healthier.”
The bill, sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of California, the Drug Policy Alliance and others, gives prosecutors the flexibility to charge low level possession for personal use as a misdemeanor instead of a felony. The bill also gives judges discretion to deem a low level drug possession offense to be either a misdemeanor or felony after consideration of the offense and the defendant’s record. S.B. 649, which does not apply to anyone involved in selling, manufacturing or possessing drugs for sale, will give counties the flexibility to safely alleviate overcrowding in county jails and ease pressure on California’s court system, and could result in well over $100 million in annual savings for the state and local governments.
“This is a common sense solution that voters want and that California needs if the state is ever going to end its ongoing overincarceration crisis," said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, senior criminal justice and drug policy advocate for the ACLU of California. “This bill will give counties the flexibility they need to move away from decades of over-reliance on incarceration for low level drug offenses and to invest their limited resources in community-based treatment, rehabilitation and education programs proven to reduce recidivism, prevent crime and increase public safety.”
S.B. 649 will allow counties to reduce jail spending and dedicate resources to probation, drug treatment and mental health services that have proven most effective in reducing crime. It will also help law enforcement rededicate resources to more serious offenders. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates reducing penalties for drug possession could save the state and counties about $159 million annually.
Across the country, 13 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government treat drug possession as a misdemeanor. Drug crime is not higher in those states. A statewide poll of Californians conducted by Tulchin Research late last year showed that an overwhelming majority of Californians support this type of drug sentencing reform, with 75 percent of state voters favoring investment in prevention and alternatives to jail for non-violent offenders. In addition, 62 percent of Californians agree that the penalty for possessing a small amount of illegal drugs for personal use should be reduced to a misdemeanor.
Along with the ACLU and Drug Policy Alliance, the bill is sponsored by the National Council of La Raza, the California NAACP, the California Public Defenders Association, the William C. Velasquez Institute, Californians for Safety and Justice and the Friends Committee on Legislation - California.
