Probation Camp Bailout Possible : Legislators Seek Compromise to Avert Shutdown and Layoffs

As more than 1,000 Los Angeles County Probation Department employees received layoff or demotion notices Friday, leaders of the state Assembly and Senate struck a deal that could avoid closure of the county’s youth probation camp system.

The layoffs, ordered by the Board of Supervisors, will take effect Feb. 5 unless legislation is approved that would funnel at least $17 million to the county so it can continue operating 19 camps for juvenile offenders.

Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) and new Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) were reported by aides to have reached a tentative agreement on providing $32.7 million in emergency aid for the embattled camp system, including $18.4 million for Los Angeles County.

Aides said that although some issues remain unresolved, the two leaders were hopeful that a compromise could be ready for a vote as soon as Monday.

“We are doing everything we can to move the package as soon as possible. Hopefully, it will move next week so [authorities] don’t have to close the camps in Los Angeles County and elsewhere,” said David Panush, a Lockyer advisor.

Ken Colombini, a spokesman for Pringle, said the tentative agreement included provisions financing not only the Los Angeles County camps, but also other camps throughout the state.

The camps are where mid-level juvenile offenders are sent to serve their sentences. The camps focus on rehabilitation and are not as tough as California Youth Authority facilities, or as lenient as a sentence requiring that a youth be sent home on probation.

The county camp bailout proposal was sponsored by Antonio R. Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles), who was also optimistic about chances for averting layoffs and a shutdown.

Villaraigosa said he hoped the legislation providing funding for camps statewide would be adopted and signed by the governor before the end of January.

“We have been assured that if the bill passes by Feb. 1, the [layoff] notices will be rescinded,” Villaraigosa said.

The county’s chief probation officer, Barry J. Nidorf, agreed. “Its terribly disrupting for 25% of my employees,” he said. “But we have two weeks before they take effect, so we still have a little time.”

Probation Department employees, however, were expecting the worst. Many had layoff notices in hand by midafternoon.

A total of 668 Probation Department employees--from maintenance workers and cooks to probation officers--are scheduled to be dismissed, and 337 are scheduled for demotion.

Some, like Probation Officer Marie Sandoval, have received layoff notices three times in the last year.

“I’m 43 years old, with a son ready for college and a 9-year-old,” she said. “If I have to work at McDonald’s, I will. At my age, it’s going to be hard.”

As an additional consequence of the possible camp closures, as many as 1,300 youths who have been convicted of a variety of crimes, including murder and armed robbery, are scheduled to appear next week before Juvenile Court judges who will decide if they should be given early releases.