PHOENIX State agencies are proposing early prison release of a fourth of convicted felons, eliminating health care for children of the working poor and slashing so many police officers that the director of Department of Public Safety said will make Arizona “open territory’’ for smugglers.
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Other proposals include:
doing away with tutoring to help students pass the AIMS test so they can graduate from high school;
cutting state funding for school safety officers;
virtually eliminating state supervision of loan originators, mortgage brokers and money transmitters;
putting off for years monitoring air quality for certain hazardous pollutants.
The list does not yet include proposals from several agencies, including the departments of Economic Security and Health Services, both of which provide extensive direct services to the public. Those will not be made public until next week.
Brewer told Capitol Media Services the reports are not designed to scare lawmakers into backing her proposal for a temporary sales tax hike as an alternative to deep cuts.
“I don’t need to scare anybody into anything,’’ she said.
But Brewer also was careful not to embrace any of the proposals or say that they represent her starting point in negotiations with the Legislature for a possible special session before the end of the year.
“This is not what I’m proposing,’’ the governor said. “This is what the agency directors say that they believe they can get to with that 15 percent cut.’’
One of the most dramatic changes would be in the state prison system which would have to slash more than $153 million.
Corrections Director Charles Ryan said he can get some savings through administrative spending reductions. But Ryan said the real money gets saved by releasing about 11,000 inmates more than a quarter of those now behind bars and closing several prisons.
Some of that could come through an expanded “home arrest’’ program. Ryan said that may make sense, “given the improvements and enhancements in electronic monitoring.’’
Far more controversial would be having lawmakers alter state law to sharply reduce, in some cases by half, the minimum sentences that inmates would have to serve. And Ryan said his agency could save more than $23 million by immediately sending illegal immigrants back to Mexico, regardless of how much of their sentence they have served.
The move would let Ryan close the state prisons in Douglas, Globe and Fort Grant as well as the women’s release center in Tucson, and parts of other prisons in Winslow, Florence and Litchfield Park.
But Ryan said those ideas carry a risk, and not just the “negative public response’’ lawmakers would face from constituents.
“Rewriting the criminal code and releasing thousands of prisoners is neither realistic nor in the best interest of public safety,’’ Ryan wrote to the governor’s office. “Releasing thousands of prisoners because of the budget deficit will place the public at risk and is akin to turning our back on the lawabiding citizens of Arizona.’’
Brewer, who was in the Legislature when many of the mandatory sentencing laws were approved, said revamping them has to be considered.
“I believe that everything’s on the table,’’ she said. “We have to look at every possible way to get our budget balanced.’’
At the Department of Public Safety, director Roger Vanderpool said the worstcase scenario would eliminate 570 law enforcement positions, the equivalent of the entire city of Tempe police department.
Vanderpool said that change would not go unnoticed by criminals, especially smugglers, who would see Arizona as “open territory’’ for crime.
“I do know that they keep track of our interdiction units,’’ he said. “With less of those units being out there, it’s going to be easier for them to get their products through to cities in Arizona and across the country.
He also said he would have to slash road patrols, leaving rural motorists “on their own’’ if they break down.
Other agencies have their own warnings of what would happen if they’re forced to make sharp cuts.
The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System proposes to eliminate the Kids Care program which provides nearly free health insurance for more than 46,000 children of parents who earn too much to qualify for free family coverage. For a family of three, that figure is $36,620 a year.
Agency officials said Arizona already has the fifth highest rate of uninsured children in the nation. Scrapping this program, they said, would push Arizona into third slot, with 18 percent of children younger than 18 without coverage.
“The Institute of Medicine notes that uninsured children are more likely to be hospitalized for preventable conditions and for missed diagnoses of serious or lifethreatening conditions,’’ the memo warns. And the cost of that care is borne by hospitals and, more generally, by everyone else who pays more for insurance.
The Board of Regents did not provide a specific plan of how it would deal with having to slash $135.2 million in state funding for the three universities. Instead, Ernest Calderon, president of the board, detailed what the cuts would mean, assuming the regents decided to use only a single solution.
For example, he said they equate to hiking tuition by $1,300 a year, eliminating 2,200 positions throughout the system or even the entire state support for Northern Arizona University.
But Calderon said the exercise is academic, as there is no legal way for the universities to cut that much: He said once the state accepted federal stimulus dollars for education, it became legally bound to maintain funding at prior levels.
By contrast, the Department of Financial Institutions had a very specific assessment of what would happen with a 15 percent cut.
“The core mission ... will be impossible to achieve,’’ the agency’s submission reads. That effectively would eliminate the agency and, by extension, do away with statechartered banks and credit unions.
The department points out that it started last budget year with 32 examiners. After the last round of budget cuts, it wound up with 19; taking another 15 percent of its funding would slash that to just five.
And acting Superintendent Thomas Wood Jr. said policy makers need to understand the implications of what that means.
“The high foreclosure rates and the drastic drop in Arizona real estate values is largely the result of an unchecked mortgage industry,’’ his submission reads, as the agency didn’t have the staff it needed for oversight.
“Continuing down the path of less regulation, when consumers and industry are clamoring for more accountability, is foolhardy and will act as a magnet for wrong doers across the West,’’ the proposal says.
Comments
Concern in Douglas wrote on Oct 24, 2009 6:55 PM:
Brittanicus wrote on Oct 22, 2009 4:40 PM:
So now those catering to big business are repeatedly saying its broken. like any immigration enforcement laws, Democrats and Republicans alike over decades have refused to enforce the border. A new survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports reveals that 56% of Americans say that federal immigration policies encourage illegal immigration, and 64% believe that local law enforcement should conduct raids in places where illegal aliens gather to find work. Only 19% opposed the raids compared to 24% who opposed such raids back in April. Another condemnation by faith groups is Sen. Chuck Schumer's attempt to claim overwhelming evangelical Christian support for his pending amnesty legislation has crumbled. His master plan was to use the staff and leadership of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) to give the impression of near unanimity.
The NAE tried. But after the members in the pew erupted, only 11 of the 40 NAE member denominations have been willing to sign on to endorse amnesty and Schumer's "comprehensive immigration reform" agenda. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) offered an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science (CSJ) appropriations bill that would have prevented CSJ funds from going to cities or localities with "sanctuary" policies (i.e., those cities that prohibit their police officers from assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, refuse to report criminal illegal aliens, and act as safe havens for illegal aliens). The paranoid Senators voted 61-38 to table the amendment (effectively killing it), with at least one of your Senators voting against the amendment. Unfortunately these are SANCTUARY STATES such as California that is now submerged under massive financial debt, a large portion caused by the millions of illegal families living of state welfare. Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) yesterday introduced a bill that would ensure all citizens and U.S. residents--INCLUDING--illegals immigrants -- are counted in the US Census.
This included Sen. DeMint amendment to construct the original--DOUBLE LAYER--fence, authored originally by Rep.Duncan Hunter, which like most approved laws are hastily thrashed in cloaked conferences pandering to corporate cartels and pro-illegal immigrant lobbyists. Thanks to the open border groups our border defenses comprises of a single layer barrier, with large areas of nothing to halt illegal criminals, drug peddlers, uninhibited terrorists and scores of illegal aliens with families from entering America. Sanctuary policies encourage illegal immigration by sending a signal across the world that anyone who manages to enter the United States will be able to stay here as long as they wish - regardless of their status - because our government lacks the will to enforce its own laws. These illegal policies have contributed to our current illegal immigration debacle and are an embarrassment to the country.
Call and blast your Senators and Representative at 202-224-3121 in Washington. Overwhelming the switchboard with your calls, as it is having an outstanding effect of--MILLIONS of angry voters. INFORM THEM DO YOUR DUTY OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES ON RE-ELECTION DAY? Tell them you want a PERMANENT E-Verify for--EVERY WORKER, a secure double layer fence and--REAL--enforcement against sanctuary state policies. Read undisclosed facts at NUMBERSUSA. UNEARTH the corruption at JUDICIAL WATCH. Your voice is needed to halt OVERPOPULATION and American Worker survival. Demand NO-MORE-AMNESTIES. Go home and come through the front door, like millions of legal immigrants? "