Check out the new op-ed by Assemblymember Phil Ting and CURB Executive Director Amber-Rose Howard in The Los Angeles Times: “California’s budget deficit will force difficult cuts. This one should be the easiest” 

Link to article  bit.ly/LAT4-30 

Plain text version bit.ly/ptlat4-30 

Read the op-ed to learn more about the importance of reducing excess prison capacity as a response to California’s HUGE budget deficit! . #YesOnAB2178 #AB2178

EVERY dollar of wasteful prison spending is a dollar NOT spent on the things we know keep people safe: housing, health care, jobs and community infrastructure. 

“California is facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit that will require lawmakers and the governor to make painful decisions. Nobody wants less funding for their child’s school, road maintenance, environmental progress or other essential services.

There is one area, however, where spending can and should be cut: prisons. Thousands of California prison beds are not in use. Simply consolidating and closing some facilities could ultimately save the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

The state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office recently estimated that the state could save $1 billion in operating expenses annually and up to an additional $2 billion in capital expenses by closing five prisons. Otherwise, the office expects one-fifth of the state’s prison capacity to go unused.”
-Assemblymember Ting and Amber-Rose Howard 

#ClosePrisonsSaveBillions