Courts, state prosecutors score more money in revised budget

SACRAMENTO — Courts hoping for more construction money and the state Department of Justice were big winners when Gov. Jerry Brown introduced his revised budget Friday.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office will receive an additional $40.3 million for priorities such as fighting sexual assault and cybercrime.

This includes $6 million for the DNA Identification Fund — a hot topic since the cold case arrest in Sacramento last month of suspected Golden State Killer. Joseph DeAngelo was located using genetic evidence from a rape-murder victim.

“As we continue our work of enforcing California law and promoting public safety, we know that we must evolve with the times,” Becerra said in a press release praising the new funding proposal. “21st century forensic tools are necessary to combat 21st century crimes.”

Becerra’s new funds also include $5.4 million each to replace older forensic equipment and to fund two new investigative teams to fight cybercrime. Another $10 million will go toward implementing SB 384, a law passed last year that creates a new tiered sex offender registry.

Also included is $14 million for marijuana enforcement. In a sign of the changing times, much of this money will be spent fighting tax evasion and supply diversion in the legal marijuana market created under Proposition 64 in 2016.

In January, Brown’s office projected the tax would bring in $175 million in the first six months of 2018. But according to figures released last week by the Legislative Analysts’ Office, the state only collected $34 million in taxes in the first three months of legal marijuana sales.

However, the administration actually raised its six-month projection to $185 million. It predicts $630 million in taxes for the 2018-19 budget year that begins July 1.

“The first quarter’s revenues from legalized cannabis were lower than we would have expected,” Brown’s budget director, Michael Cohen, told reporters on Friday. “We are expecting that to turn around and ramp up as more people get licensed.”

Cohen said the administration’s projections were based on tax collections in Colorado and Washington. But some say California’s taxes may be too high.

“The taxes aren’t the highest in the country, but when combined with local taxation, they’re pretty high,” said Hilary Bricken-Keeling, a partner with Harris Bricken McVay LLP who specializes in marijuana law. “If the state wants to defeat the black market, high taxes likely isn’t the way to do it.”

The mid-May budget revision is an annual event at the Capitol. After several contentious years fighting for more money for courts, California Chief Justice Tani-Cantil Sakauye had nothing but praise for Brown’s latest budget.

“The governor’s wise budget proposal is very welcome news for our court system,” she said. “His budget would restore and provide more in-person and online services for court users, increase language access and invest in our infrastructure.”

Brown maintained nearly $190 million in additional money for items including court employee retirement and backfilling lost fines and fees included in his January budget proposal. The May revision includes another $6.3 million for ongoing operations.

But that money is dwarfed by a whopping $973 million for new court construction. This brings the total amount for court infrastructure from $375 million to nearly $1.35 billion. Courts will also get $100 million over three years to address deferred maintenance.

This fits with Brown’s stated preferences for spending unexpected windfalls on “one-time” expenses like infrastructure and debt repayment rather than ongoing programs that would have to be cut when tax revenues fall again.

Adjusted tax revenues have come in $8.8 billion higher than projected at this point in the year, prompting calls for additional spending from Democratic lawmakers.

“Life is very giddy at the peak,” Brown said in a typical budget season statement. “But I’m not giddy.”

The money also addresses a shortfall in court construction funds dating back a decade. The administration did not immediately provide new details on how the new construction money will be spent. There are 14 court projects in various stages of completion.

According to sources in the Judicial Council, five projects will be moved up from the 2019-20 budget to the 2018-19 spending plan. These include four of the larger projects on the list — Riverside, Sacramento, Sonoma, and Stanislaus counties — as well as a smaller renovation and expansion to the Willows Courthouse in Glenn County.

The biggest single piece is the long-delayed new main courthouse in downtown Sacramento that is in planning stages. It would cost an estimated $460 million to build.

Martin Hoshino, administrative director of the Judicial Council, noted the court’s construction accounts were tapped during the financial crisis a decade ago to keep the state afloat.

“So it is gratifying to see that our shared ongoing commitment to collaboration and meeting the needs of Californians has resulted in more of these critical courthouse projects moving forward,” Hoshino said by email.