CAPITOL DIGEST: 'THREE STRIKES' LAW STUDY IS VETOED

Gov. Gray Davis on Sunday vetoed a bill that would have produced a fiscal
study of California's "three strikes" sentencing law.

In his veto of SB 873 by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, Davis said a
study would be "unlikely to produce much, if any, useful information that is
not already available." Davis supported Proposition 184 in 1994, but was
criticized by his Republican opponent in last year's gubernatorial campaign
because he had favored a weaker version of the measure.

Davis' veto message noted that the impact of the law already has been well
studied and that "the benefit of the three strikes law [ed note--for the
prison industry, and of course for Davis's campaign coffers] will continue
for years to come."