Governor Brown's Prison Overcrowding Initiative Goes Before Voters In November
SACRAMENTO, (AP) — California's Supreme Court is allowing Gov. Jerry Brown's bid to put his plan to reduce the state's prison population before voters in November.
The high court acted Friday after Brown warned that further delay could push voters' consideration to 2018.
The justices put on hold a lower court ruling that barred the state attorney general from issuing the documents that would let Brown's supporters gather the signatures needed to put his initiative on this year's ballot.
The Sacramento-based judge ruled that Brown improperly amended a juvenile justice initiative. The Democratic governor added his proposal to increase sentencing credits for adult inmates and allow earlier parole for non-violent felons.
Brown says it is too late to start over and still collect the nearly 586,000 signatures needed for a ballot measure this year.
Earlier Friday, California district attorneys said Brown had no one to blame but himself for sparking a fight over a proposed ballot measure that has now reached the state's highest court.
The Democratic governor had objected Friday that the California Supreme Court's schedule would push a decision on his prison population initiative into next week.
Brown's attorney had argued that even a four-day delay would likely make it impossible to gather enough signatures to put the measure before voters in November.
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