FIRST CUTS MAY FREE INMATES

Gov. Bob Riley will ask lawmakers in a special session that will begin at
noon Monday to expand the Pardons and Paroles Board to speed the release of
5,000-6,000 nonviolent offenders from state prisons and deeply cut other
state agencies.

In a Thursday news conference, Finance Director Drayton Nabers and the
heads of public safety and public health agencies outlined budget cuts the
governor will propose after voters rejected a $1.2 billion tax and
accountability package Tuesday.

The cuts would affect a broad range of services. Under the proposal, some
state departments will be asked to cut budgets as much as 15 to 20 percent.
The plan will mean fewer state troopers on the highways, cutbacks in
nursing home care for the elderly and medical aid for low income residents,
and fewer children provided health insurance.

BUDGET IMPACT

Here are some of the changes that could occur if the Legislature adopts
Gov. Bob Riley's recommended state budgets, Finance Director Drayton Nabers
and state agency heads said Thursday.

Early paroles for 5,000 to 6,000 prisoners Freeze on enrollment in
Children's Health Insurance Program (effective immediately) Closure of
State Trooper training academy State troopers change to work week of four
10-hour days State troopers limited to 150 miles per day Layoffs of about
200 employees in the attorney general's office and district attorneys
offices Delays in criminal trials Reduction in number of people eligible
for Medicaid coverage in nursing homes Elimination of Medicaid coverage for
eyeglasses New limits on prescription drug coverage for adult Medicaid
recipients Reduction in restaurant inspections Elimination of flu vaccines
at county health departments Cuts in cancer screening programs at county
health departments Closure of some WIC offices Reduction in AIDS
prescription drug program Cuts in flouridation assistance for local water
systems Gov. Bob Riley also wants to reduce state trooper numbers and limit
patrols

The governor wants to expand the Pardons and Paroles Board from three
members to seven to speed release of nonviolent prisoners from the
overcrowded prison system.

"The Parole Board is processing about 75-80 parolees a week at this point.
We want to double that to about 200," Nabers said during the
administration's first detailed public briefing on proposed budget cuts.

Attorney General Bill Pryor said, "I don't see how you can release 5,000
offenders and expect that all of them will suddenly engage for the next
year in lawful activity." He said 25 to 30 percent of Alabama inmates
commit other crimes and return to prison within two years of release.

Prosecution of crimes that now take a year would take 21/2to 3, if the cuts
become effective, Pryor said.

Pryor said 15 to 20 percent budget cuts would require 200 layoffs in the
1,200-person criminal justice system that includes his office and those of
regional district attorneys.

"As a law enforcement officer I think it is terrible," Pryor said.

"It's a shame that we look like we are going backward. It would devastate
law enforcement in Montgomery County, said Montgomery District Attorney
Ellen Brooks.

Randy Hillman, director of the Office of Prosecution Services, said money
for the DAs is channeled through his office.

"We are in line for an 18 percent cut. Any cut is devastating to us. No
doubt it will wreak havoc on the DAs and the criminal justice system,"
Hillman said.

Prison commissioner Donal Campbell said the releases are needed to ease
pressure on a system that has grown by 1,000 prisoners a year for a decade
and "poses a great threat to our employees, to the community and to the
inmate population."

Other recommended cuts would reduce Medicaid eligibility for nursing homes
and limit reimbursements to health-care providers. The state Health
Department's programs for uninsured children, and restaurant inspections
also willbe cut.

A recommended 15 to 20 percent cut in the Department of Public Safety will
mean that there will be fewer State Troopers on the road, said Mike
Coppage, director of the Department of Public Safety.

If the cuts are adopted, the Selma Trooper Academy will close. A training
class of 100 troopers scheduled for January will be canceled. A hiring
freeze will be imposed; 52 driver license offices, two field offices and
one trooper post will close.

Troopers will go on a four-day work week, and the 319 troopers on the road
will be limited to a patrol distance of 150 miles a day, Coppage said.

State Health Officer Don Williamson called the proposed 15 percent cuts in
the Department of Public Health "cataclysmic."

He said the department immediately will freeze enrollment in the child
health insurance program at the current 61,000 and allow attrition to
reduce it to 50,000.

"We will seek regulation changes that will move restaurant inspections from
once every three months to once every four months," Williamson said.

Multiple WIC sites will be closed, reducing availability of supplemental
food for low-income women, infants and children, a hypertension program
will end and a cervical cancer screening program will be reduced,
Williamson said.

"I'm very concerned because many of these cuts are going to be to the poor,
to the middle-class and the lower-class people surrounding this area," said
Connie Simington, a clerk in the WIC program at the Montgomery County
Health Department. "If they're on a set salary, they depend on the Health
Department because they can't go to outside private physicians for the
necessary health care or medications."

Simington has worked at the Health Department for two and a half years.

Williamson said influenza vaccines will no longer be provided in county
health departments, time for state approval of homeowners' septic tank
installations will double, and $2 million for medication for people with
HIV and AIDS will be cut in half.

Medicaid director Mike Lewis said a general 2 percent cut could mean 3,000
fewer low-income seniors will be eligible for Medicaid-paid nursing home
beds. That reduction would be phased in to avoid forcing the elderly out of
nursing homes, Lewis said.

Medicaid reimbursement to health-care providers, including physicians will
be reduced, Lewis said. He said one-time federal funds will ease the cuts
somewhat this year.

"Our real devastation will come in 2005," he said.

The cuts would be effective only if approved by lawmakers. Jeff Woodard,
aide to House Speaker Seth Hammett, said the speaker will respond to budget
cut proposals after he sees the formal spending plan.