Legislation Puts Offenders Under Local Supervision

Several district attorneys and other officials from counties around the Bay Area met in San Francisco Wednesday to discuss recent California legislation that will soon put many offenders and parolees under local rather than state supervision.

AB 109, a proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown to address overcrowding in state prisons and the state's large budget deficit, will apply to people convicted of nonviolent, non-serious offenses, as well as adult parolees and juvenile offenders.

The bill was signed into law in April and is set to go into effect on Oct. 1.

The move is estimated to save the state an estimated $1.4 billion but will likely cause added stress on county services, which was the reason for Wednesday's meeting held at University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

District attorneys and chief probation officers from the nine Bay Area counties plus Santa Cruz County were among the attendees at Wednesday afternoon's summit.

The summit planned to focus on pre-trial issues, sentencing, and revocations and reentry, according to the district attorney's office.

--Bay City News