New Health Facilities For California Inmates Blocked By Republican State Senators

Sacramento, CA (AHN) - Republican senators in California blocked a plan to build a $7 billion medical facility for state inmates. The senators voted 22-14, five votes short needed for a two-thirds majority.

The bill proposed that $7 billion in bonds to be used to improve medical and mental health care for state inmates be handled by the court-appointed receiver. Republican senators said they voted against it because the measure was premature since there are ongoing prison-related lawsuits which could result to federal court settlements.

Senators who voted for the bill said they reluctantly cast a ballot in favor of the proposal because a federal judge in San Francisco has the power to order the transfer of money from the state coffers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agrees with the $7 billion bond to be handled by receiver J. Clark Kelso as a better option than taking the amount needed from California's general fund. California has a $15.2 billion budget deficit for the incoming fiscal year which starts July 1.

On Thursday the Senate will vote on the measure for the second time. Kelso said if the bill would again be rejected by the state senate, he would ask over $100 million from California's treasury to pay for design and engineering works on seven healthcare facilities he has planned throughout California.

Kelso was appointed by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson to improve California's health care systems for its inmates after the court ruled its present system is below par, violating the prisoners' constitutional rights.

Republican senators pointed out the several settlement proposal in federal courts could cut down the state's inmate headcount and require a smaller bill for the proposed medical and mental health facilities. The $7 billion is broken down into $6 billion for new medical facilities for 10,000 California inmates and $1 billion for improvement of existing jail health clinics.

Sen. Michael Machado, author of the bill, lamented the failure of the state to enforce its own laws. "How many more times are we going to abdicate our responsibility and let the federal courts come in and govern the state?", Machado asked the Los Angeles Times.