Legislators Create Omnibus Criminal Justice Bill

Last week, two different bills were stuffed with criminal justice reform amendments in the Senate Judiciary Committee to create $78 million in savings through reduced need for prison spending. (Summaries of both bills and a list of what will be cut if they don't pass can be found at the end of this article.)

HB 2290 was “stuffed” with a number of things we like and saves about $27 million. This bill would only require a simple majority vote. (A bill is “stuffed” when amendments are added that substantially change the bill but are similar in subject matter to the original bill.)

HB 2335-A is the parole bill we have been fighting, which allows increasing the maximum time between parole hearings to 10 years, with board flexibility in deciding the time frame. The bill has been stuffed with delaying implementation of Measure 57 for 2½ years and increased earned time eligibility for some non-M11 people from 20% to 30%. It also allows earned time for people on probation and reduces re-incarceration for technical probation violations. Passage of HB2335-A would require a 2/3 majority vote.   

These two omnibus bills have been negotiated by the Chairs of the Judiciary Committee as well as the Public Safety subcommittee Co-Chairs over the past month. It has been a difficult process and has included moderate and conservative legislators knowing that in order to delay Measure 57, bi-partisan support would be needed to achieve the necessary super majority vote (two-thirds).

We are gravely disappointed that HB 2335-A does not include Second Look and does include a bad parole policy change. By now, we have certainly recognized that the political landscape requires compromise, although – to be clear – we were not the ones defining the parameters of the amendments.

Taken as a whole, HB 2335-A would be considered by most as a real attempt by the legislature to reduce the skyrocketing growth of Oregon’s prison system. If passed, it would put on hold the Junction City prison construction and the opening of prison beds in Madras while enacting a number of smart criminal justice reforms. Passage would be a major victory!  

The legislators also released a number of severe cuts to the budget if these two bills don't pass.  Some of these cuts include:

    * $2 million in drug court funds (which when combined with cuts already made would be a 50% reduction in grant resources)
    * $1 million to the Oregon Domestic and Sexual Violence Fund (approx a 25% cut)
    * 50 Oregon Youth Authority beds and the closure of the Burns facility (could lead to the transfer of youth to adults prisons)
    * $12 million in public defender services (no trial level representation could be provided for the last six weeks of the biennium)

You can take action on this bill by going to the Action Center of our web site.