Tax-Hike Plan to Build Jails Should Be Put Before Voters

Sometimes the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) approach to vital but aesthetically unpopular public works, such as jails and airports, is carried too far.

That happened last Tuesday in Sacramento when legislation that would have allowed Orange County voters to consider a half-cent sales tax increase to finance new jail and court facilities was withdrawn by state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) because of an unacceptable amendment lobbied into the bill by Santa Ana city officials.

The amendment, offered by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) at the urging of Santa Ana, would have banned the construction of any jail within a mile of a school. That restriction would prevent more jail construction in downtown Santa Ana, where the county’s main jail and a new intake center are located. The amendment was designed to offset an initiative that residents of Anaheim Hills managed to get qualified for the June ballot to try to stop construction of a proposed new jail in Gypsum Canyon. That initiative, if passed, would require all new jails to be built in Santa Ana.

Bergeson was more than willing to carry legislation to enable county residents to say whether they would be willing to pay more local taxes to help finance the critically needed jail and court facilities. But she understandably refused to have the state dragged into the local squabble or make a decision on where a new county jail ought to be located.

As it is, the county is still under a federal court order to relieve overcrowding at the main jail in Santa Ana. To accomplish that last year more than 42,000 prisoners were released early, including thousands arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and hundreds of others charged with serious offenses, such as carrying concealed weapons and assault. The early release rate is running even higher this year.

There are really two issues facing the community. There is no disagreement on the need for more jail cells. That is a must. Diversion programs and efforts directed at the root causes of crime are also a must. But even with those, Orange County will not have enough jail space to meet the most reasonable projections that call for tripling the current jail capacity by the year 2006.

So that leaves two questions. Where will new jails be built? And where will the estimated $1 billion needed for jail and court projects come from? Those are separate issues that can, and should, be dealt with separately.

The NIMBY mentality may continue to lead to all kinds of political machinations, but wherever a new jail is finally located, money will be needed. Voters should have the opportunity to tell the supervisors, the sheriff and the judges whether they are willing to provide some of that money through a modest increase in the local sales-tax rate.

That is all the Bergeson bill would accomplish. It should be revived, and passed, without ill-advised, self-serving amendments.