California prison officials have expanded their outsourcing of inmates, now sending prisoners to other states even if they don't want to go.

Last October, Governor Schwarzenegger signed an emergency proclamation due to overcrowding in the state's prisons. That order included the power to transfer inmates to prisons in other states.

Initially, prisons officials only shipped out inmates that volunteered to go. But with the prison population still rising, officials are stepping up the program. They say they're still taking volunteers, but that some prisoners will now be transferred "involuntarily." That process could begin in 60 days, with final destinations in Mississippi, Arizona, and Oklahoma prisons.

Officials say California's prison population stands at some 174,000 inmates-- the highest level in state history. In a written statement, the governor said the new transfers are another warning for lawmakers to pass comprehensive prison reform... sooner rather than later.

An interesting primer on Indian gaming in California is out from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. No major news, but some points to ponder-- especially with several agreements to expand the state's gaming industry still not ratified by the Legislature.

You can read the report for yourself here.

A few items from the LAO report:

* The odds of legislative consent for new and revised tribal casino agreements haven't been so hot in the years following the original deals struck between 61 tribes and former Governor Gray Davis. Since then, only five addtional tribes have been given the green light... while nine new or amended deals remain in limbo.

* 45% of California's slot machines are located at Indian casinos in just two counties: Riverside and San Diego.

* The 1999 compacts set up two special funds into which gaming tribes contribute money: one to share money with non-gaming tribes, and a second fund to pay for things like problem gambling programs and mitigation of gaming impacts to local communities.

But the agreements struck between some large gaming tribes and Governor Schwarzenegger in 2004 and 2006 change that system. In fact, the LAO report concludes that if all the new agreements are ratified, the pot of money that goes to mitigate the effects of gambling will quickly be empty. And it's that fund that has been actually making up shortfalls in payments to non-gaming tribes.

That means, says the LAO, that new casino revenues earmarked for the state's General Fund might have to go instead to non-gaming tribes. In other words, it would be yet another problem with those rosy projections of gaming cash going to help solve the state's fiscal problems.

* The report agrees that Indian gaming has "dramatically improved socioeconomic conditions" for some Native Americans in the state; however, it also cites state data that the casino tribes represent only 9% of California residents identifed in the last census as American Indians.