By Press Enterprise Editorial in The Orange County Register

March 13, 2016

Where’s the budget savings from Proposition 47? It’s a question voters are asking about the 2014 initiative, which reduced felony and misdemeanor penalties for many nonviolent and nonserious drug and property crimes. The voter pamphlet language that sold the initiative promised, “This measure will save significant state corrections dollars on an annual basis. Preliminary estimates range from $150 million to $250 million per year.”

But in his January budget proposal for fiscal year 2016-17, which begins July 1, Gov. Jerry Brown penciled in just $29.3 million in savings. A month ago, however, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office released a study that concluded, “We find that the administration likely underestimates the savings and overestimates the costs resulting from” Prop. 47.

Read more at The Orange County Register