Lawmakers to Fight Veto of Youth Anti-Crime Funds
Lawmakers vowed Monday to fight to restore $71 million for juvenile justice crime prevention programs, after Gov. Gray Davis used his line-item veto authority last week to cut the money from an overall anti-crime spending measure.
Davis left intact $120 million to aid local law enforcement as part of the nearly $100-billion budget for the new fiscal year. But he cut $71 million that lawmakers had sought to bolster programs aimed at preventing juvenile delinquency.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. July 27, 2000 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday July 27, 2000 Home Edition Part A Part A Page 3 Metro Desk 2 inches; 52 words Type of Material: Correction
Davis veto--A Times article July 11 and editorials July 13 and July 19 incorrectly stated the amount that Gov. Gray Davis vetoed from the state budget for a juvenile justice crime package. The correct amount is $121.3 million. The July 19 editorial also misidentified which California governor appointed Thomas J. Giaquinto to the Board of Prison Terms. It was Pete Wilson.
The issue will be a focus of debate in August when the Legislature returns from its summer recess.
“I want to [undo] some of the damage,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said Monday. Schiff and Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) had led the push to obtain state money for an array of local juvenile programs.
Los Angeles County’s Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council would have received $34 million of the money that Davis vetoed.
In a veto message last week, Davis said he made the cuts because the spending plan did not detail how juvenile justice programs would benefit juveniles. Davis said he would support restoration of the money if there is proof that the programs work.
Davis also tied the funding to legislative approval for a boot camp project he favors, the Turning Point Academy. He had sought money for the program as part of his budget proposal. But in its version of the budget, the Legislature cut $9.2 million for it.
Amy Dominguez-Arms, of the private advocacy group Children Now, called Davis’ veto shocking, given voter approval in March of Proposition 21, which greatly increases criminal penalties against children as young as 14.
“If the state is going to dish out harsh punishments,” Dominguez-Arms said, “the state should dish out avenues to avoid them. A balance is necessary.”
Cory Watson, director of the private group People Who Care Youth Center in South-Central Los Angeles, called the cuts disheartening. Watson, whose center offers after-school programs to about 1,100 children, said the bill was a major symbol that the state was serious about reaching juveniles before they commit crimes.
“These are human lives we’re talking about and to cut any funds that would help is not right,” she said.
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