The California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board and the California District Attorneys Association hosted the 2010 California Restitution Summit on November 10, 2010. The event brought together victim advocates, district attorneys, defense bar, judges, parole and probation officers, local and state restitution collections officials, and other public safety stakeholders to have an open discussion about the best-practices across the state on the issue of restitution collection.

This summit was convened to find solutions to the current downward fiscal condition of the California Restitution Fund, which provides compensation to victims in the aftermath of a crime through the state Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP). The nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office and internal projections from the Department of Finance and the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board all project that the Restitution Fund will be insolvent by fiscal year 2011-12.

The fund’s fiscal condition has been at a downward trajectory over the last six years due to several factors: 1) spending and borrowing by the Legislature and Governor on non-restitution related programs, i.e. anti-gang funding, 2) restitution collections continue to remain stable or decline while 3) spending on victim compensation and benefits have increased over time.

The featured panels focused on how restitution collection and information sharing could be improved throughout the state by adopting practices and protocols that have shown to increase revenues. Many panelists suggested what changes could be made by the Legislature to increase collections as well as to create more disincentives and punishments to those offenders who continue to avoid paying court ordered fines. In fact, some of the solutions could simply be adopted by local and regional governments and would dramatically increase their collection rates.

The four panels were as followed:

Panel 1 – District Attorneys

Gary Lieberstein – District Attorney, Napa County
Vern Pierson – District Attorney, El Dorado County
Ken Ryken – Deputy District Attorney, Alameda County
Greg Totten – District Attorney – Ventura County
Steve Dippert – Restitution Specialist, Santa Clara County

Panel 2 – Chief Probation Officers

Jim Salio, San Luis Obispo County
Scott Stickney – Los Angeles County
Jerry Powers – Stanislaus County

Panel 3 – Courts/Presiding Judges

Honorable Larry Brown – Judge Sacramento County Superior Court
Honorable Lois Haight – Judge Contra Costa County Superior Court
Honorable Joe Hurley – Judge Alameda County Superior Court

Panel 4 – Collections

Matthew Cate (Moderator) – Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Margie Borjon-Miller – Administrative Office of the Courts
Liz Howard Espinosa – California State Association of Counties
Bruce Robert – San Bernardino County Collections Department
Carol Williams – Franchise Tax Board

Let us know what you think about restitution collection in your area!

The Legislative Analysts Office launched a page on its website to keep track of its writings on the 2010-11 budget and the 2009-10 budget revisions. You can refine your searches by policy area or department. The results can be downloaded into Excel spreadsheets.

Read recent publications by the LAO here.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “plan to cobble together a budget with rosy projections and billions in presumed — but “very unlikely” — federal aid means California could face even deeper spending cuts than anticipated, according to a review released Tuesday by the state’s nonpartisan budget analyst.”

For more information, read the LAO’s latest report on the California budget.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released a new report today about the impact of the federal stimulus plan on California.

The Sacramento Bee reported this morning, that “the state’s nonpartisan fiscal analyst said today that California likely will not receive enough federal stimulus money to avoid higher taxes and deeper spending cuts triggered by the new state budget deal.”

The LAO agreed with “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Department of Finance in predicting California government will receive only $8 billion in stimulus funds over the 16 months.”

Click here to continue reading the article.

This morning, Governor Schwarzenegger and senior members of his staff met with public safety leaders from across California to discuss the state budget. Stakeholders from a variety of organizations were were present, including sheriffs, police chiefs, probation, firefighters, and crime victim organizations.

The Governor explained the challenges related to the projected $10 billion budget shortfall as California enters in to the next budget year. The state’s revenue is projected to increase by only 1 percent in the next budget year, but a variety of state programs and public safety programs have projected an 8 percent increase in the cost of maintaining their programs and services.

The Governor expressed his continued support of public safety projects and initiatives and held todays dialog with officials to try and identify ways of maintaining current public safety programming funds.

The Governor and officials who were present acknowledged that current public safety resources at both the state and local level are already stretched – including those agencies and personnel who are dedicated to providing critical incidence response, disaster relief and general crime control services.

The group also discussed the potential impact of anticipated rulings of the three judge panel that is deliberating about prison overcrowding at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Their decision is likely to have profound impacts on future state expenditures.

In addition to reinforcing the importance public safety programming and victim services, crime victim groups present requested that the Governor provide leadership to ensure that dollars designated for crime victims say with victims. In particular, victim’s groups urged the Governor, and legislators, to resist the temptation to borrow against the Crime Victims Compensation Fund as a way to address the budget shortfall.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has forecasted that the next three budget cycles are going to be challenging. As a result, the Governor requested that public safety officials continue to partner with his administration to balance the budget and promote community safety.