REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER INTRODUCES $4.1 BILLION PRISON CONSTRUCTION MEASURE

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- With state prisons running out of space, a Republican
lawmaker says he'll try to put a $4.1 billion prison construction bond
measure on the ballot next year.

But the bill faces an uncertain future. To make the ballot, it will need
votes from at least two-thirds of the Legislature and a signature from Gov.
Gray Davis, who's still forming his prison policies.

And, if it makes it that far, it could face skeptical voters, who have
rejected several major general-obligation bond measures in recent elections.

Assemblyman Bill Leonard, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said he introduced the prison
bond measure because of inmate overcrowding.

``I'm very concerned that if the Legislature and administration do not act,
we will have court orders when we reach full capacity that would entail
release of violent felons,'' Leonard said in an interview.

The state prison system, which now holds about 160,000 inmates, will begin
running out of space for its increasing population in 2001, according to
Davis' new cabinet secretary for prisons, Robert Presley.

There are no funds currently earmarked for prison construction. In recent
years, former Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature deadlocked over whether
to embark on an expensive new prison construction program such as the one
carried out in the 1980s.

Of the total amount in Leonard's bill, $2 billion would be for construction
of six state prisons in unspecified locations, $1.9 billion for county
jails and $200 million for local juvenile halls.

The measure is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Public Safety
Committee on Tuesday.