Lock Down… Mortgages, Prisoners
And now, the worst kept secret in California political reporting: it's a slow news season.
With health care reform stuck in a perpetual state of "private negotiations" and water bond talks apparently all but finished for the year, there's slim pickings in state Capitol news.
That probably explains today's two items: seperate demands to stop the mortgage crisis... and the prison crisis.
First, mortgages. Democrats are unveiling a package of legislative proposals (to be introduced in January) that they say will help prevent foreclosures and protect borrowers with subprime mortgages. Those proposals include a ban on mortgage pre-payment penalties, restrictions on some subprime loan fees, and more credit counselors.
Governor Schwarzenegger has also been talking about the subprime mortgage crisis. This morning in Riverside County, he announced a $1.2 million public awareness campaign to help citizens fearing foreclosure know what options they have. "We hope to prevent more than 100,000 California families from losing their homes," he said at this morning's event. "Seek out a solution now, before it's too late."
Last week, the governor touted a deal with major lenders to extend the current low interest rate for some homeowners.
Meantime, the governor's fellow Republicans at the state Capitol are talking about a different kind of lock down.
Assembly Republicans decided today to launch a website that warns of the dangers of releasing prisoners early. As has been reported over the past few months, overcrowding in the state's prisons could lead a panel of federal judges to release inmates as a way of easing the pressure.
The GOP website chronicles what it calls the dangers of a prison population cap. It also includes what seems to be a questionable chart of how many prisoners would be sent back to each county if the judges cap the inmate population.
In truth, the chart is based on a rudimentary and decidely unscientific calculation -- by assuming that prisoner releases would mirror the overall prison population. Using the GOP logic, if 10% of the inmates are from a particular California county, then 10% of those released would be returned to that same county.
Not only does that pre-judge the judges' actions... but it also assumes a prisoner release would not be tailored to account for the prisoner's crime.
But hey, it's the slow news season.
