Davis Will Lead Drive to Rescind Jail Fees : Finances: The state senator says a law allowing counties to charge cities for booking suspects discourages arrests.

State Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) said Monday that he will seek to repeal a portion of a bill that allows counties to charge cities every time their police officers book someone into a county jail.

Davis said the booking fee, provided for under Senate Bill 2557, is a disincentive for local law enforcement agencies to arrest and book criminals. His 19th Senate District includes much of Ventura County.

“It’s a reverse bounty not to arrest people,” Davis said. “That kind of policy is very bad.”

Davis, who originally voted for the bill that was passed during the Legislature’s 1990-91 budget deliberations, said he decided to work to change the law after meeting with local law enforcement officials this month.

The bill was part of the overall 1990-91 budget package that was approved by the Legislature in July. “Everybody voted for it,” Davis said of the package.

Davis said he will probably introduce an emergency measure in December to change the law. However, he said the Legislature probably would not act on it until early next year.

The senator said he is sure that the law will be changed if law enforcement officials lobby aggressively.

“I’ll carry the bill, but they’ve got to block on the line,” Davis said. “If they don’t, it won’t happen.”

Davis said he and his staff will try to find another funding source for the counties, “but I have no idea where the money is going to come from.” Even if another source is not found, he said, he will still push to do away with the booking fee.

The County Board of Supervisors approved the fee in September over the objections of city officials who said they could not afford it and might have to offset the cost by booking fewer people into the jail.

But the board said it had little choice but to impose the fee because state cuts had left the county with a $5.8-million shortfall.

The Senate bill also allowed counties to recoup some funds by requiring school districts to pay for property-tax collection.

The booking fee, estimated at $120 per person, is expected to generate at least $1 million a year in Ventura County to cover jail administration costs. This would free funds to offset cuts in health, mental health, welfare and criminal justice programs.

The fee officially goes into effect Jan. 1 but is retroactive to July 1 and is already affecting law enforcement agencies and the cities they represent.

Oxnard Police Chief Robert P. Owens said his department normally makes 325 to 375 arrests and bookings a month, but since September the average has been about 150. He said his department is releasing many misdemeanor suspects on their own recognizance with orders to appear in court.

“We try to protect the public safety by determining who should be released,” said Owens, who supports Davis’ efforts to change the law. “But we are still releasing a lot of people who should probably be spending some time in jail.”

Despite these measures, Owens said Oxnard, already beset by financial problems, can expect to pay about $300,000 a year in booking fees to the county. He added that the problems created by the booking fees are not only financial.

“One very negative side effect of this is that it will increase the number of people who fail to appear in court,” Owens said.

Ventura Police Chief Richard Thomas said his officers also are being selective in their bookings, but the new fee will still cost the city “several hundred thousand dollars a year.”

Meanwhile, Lt. Bruce McDowell, a County Jail administrator, said bookings in September and October were down about 10% from the same time last year. But McDowell stopped short of attributing the reduction to the new fee.

“There are too many variables involved to put your finger on it,” he said.

Supervisor John K. Flynn said he thought Davis could probably get the booking fee rescinded. But Flynn said he would like to see the senator take a different approach to solving the problem.

“I think a better way would be to work with the new governor to come up with a total budget reform bill to put before the Legislature,” Flynn said, adding that the booking fees and new school fees could be put on hold until a budget reform package was approved.

If booking fees are rescinded, Flynn said, the county will have to reduce some services to make up for the loss of the fees.

He did not speculate on where cuts would be made.

Davis’ proposal was praised by other city and law enforcement officials in the county.

“I would hope that the Legislature would recognize that this really is a poor policy,” said Simi Valley Police Chief Lindsey Paul Miller. “I understand the county needs money, but this is a poor way to gather funds.”

Miller said his department has estimated that the booking fee would cost Simi Valley about $194,000 a year. He said his department has always had a conservative booking policy and has not made any changes to compensate for the new fee.

Miller said he was among law enforcement officials who met with Davis this month. He said he and other officials recently met with Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who originally opposed the fee, to get her support in the campaign to revoke the measure.

Miller said he and Santa Paula Police Chief Walter H. Adair and Ventura’s Thomas will meet with Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) today in Ventura to discuss the issue. He said law enforcement officials also plan to meet with state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) on Thursday.