California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Budget Plan Would Shift Prison Costs

Democratic leaders unveiled a plan to bridge the state’s $12.6-billion budget gap in part by seeking to shift the state’s cost of imprisoning drug offenders to the federal government. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said 38% of the drug offenders in state prison could have been prosecuted under federal laws and housed in federal prisons. “California is shouldering a disproportionate share of the costs from the federal war on drugs at a time when we are waging our own war against the massive budget gap,” Brown said. In all, the Democratic leaders’ plan calls for $6 billion in new taxes and cuts.