"Republican lawmakers backed off a threat to derail a tentative budget deal to fix the state's gaping deficit after Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised Wednesday to push aside a controversial prison release proposal.
In the compromise to close the deficit that was reached late Monday, the leaders did not specify how prison cuts would be achieved.
But on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger's top prison official unveiled the governor's plan to reduce the number of prison inmates by nearly 27,000 - from 167,700 - in part by reforming the state's parole system, and moving some elderly, sick and low-risk offenders to local hospitals, halfway houses and house arrest.
Republican lawmakers balked at the proposal, saying early release of prisoners and attempts to change sentencing laws were not acceptable and a threat to public safety.
Schwarzenegger's prison plan, which has the backing of Democratic lawmakers and support of law enforcement officials such as the California Police Chiefs Association, can be approved in a simple majority vote without any GOP support in either house of the Legislature.
Blakeslee said Republicans will unveil their own plans to find savings in the state prison budget that avoids the early release of prison inmates.
"We believe that the force and the quality of the views of which we're going to put forward will ultimately not only earn the support of the public, but a majority of both houses of the Legislature," he said."
