DELAY LOOMS IF TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING COMPROMISE NOT REACHED

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Implementation of the truth-in-sentencing law may be
delayed for as long as a year unless House and Senate lawmakers can agree
on some major revisions in the next four weeks, House Speaker Loyd Benson
said Friday.

Sen. Cal Hobson, D-Lexington, noted that such a delay also would require an
agreement between the House and Senate. "It takes two to delay," he said,
adding that the amount of money allocated by legislative leaders for public
safety is not enough to pay for all the revisions sought by Benson.

The law is scheduled to take effect July 1.

A special House-Senate committee has been working on revisions in the
truth-in-sentencing law that was passed last year.

But Benson, D-Frederick, said the work of the committee has been slower
than he would like. "I had hoped we (the House and Senate) would have come
closer together," he said. "The Senate is very resistant to our
modifications -- it makes it very hard to compromise."

The House of Representatives voted 90-8 to greatly modify the original
truth-in-sentencing law, which had been criticized by sheriffs and
prosecutors as too weak on criminals.

The law would require serious and habitual criminals to serve at least 85
percent of their prison sentences and for less serious criminals to serve
75 percent of their sentences before parole consideration. Many property
and drug offenders would be sentenced to community-based programs rather
than prison.

Prosecutors said the new sentencing guidelines could result in less prison
time for some offenders. Many sheriffs said there were problems with the
community sentencing program.

As passed by the House, House Bill 2927, authored by Benson, would push
implementation of truth in sentencing to Jan. 1, 1999. It also would have
increased the potential punishment for criminals, including the possibility
of prison terms for first-time offenders in many crime categories.

But many of the reform provisions were stripped from the bill by the Senate.

Should House and Senate leaders fail to reach an agreement, a delay of
truth in sentencing until July 1, 1999, would give the Legislature more
time to work out the problems, Benson said. He said he does not believe
either side would want to see the law take effect if major disagreements
remain.

Benson added there has been discussion of using a piecemeal approach to
implementing the law. For example, he said a requirement for violent and
habitual criminals to serve at least 85 percent of their terms, plus a
phase-in of community sentencing, could be implemented more quickly than
other parts of the law.

Hobson said he sees no need for a year's delay, "if everybody is reasonable."

Hobson, a co-chairman of the House-Senate truth-in-sentencing committee,
says the panel is slowly working out reforms, but added that he does not
support the wide-ranging revisions contained in Benson's bill.

Legislative leaders this week allocated $40 million in general revenue to
public safety. Hobson said the revisions in Benson's bill would cost at
least $48 million next fiscal year. The present Department of Corrections
budget is $338.9 million.

As passed by the House, the cost of corrections in Oklahoma would
accumulate to nearly $1 billion over the course of 10 years, Hobson said.
"We're just not going to do it."

Hobson said most people would rather spend state funds on education than
prisons.

The special committee has about a month left in the legislative session to
work out a revision. But Hobson hasn't "gotten a lot of wiggle room from
the speaker" in order to compromise, he said.

Rep. Dwayne Steidley, D-Claremore, who leads the House members of the
truth-in-sentencing panel, said he feels it would be a "mistake to delay it
for a year."

Steidley said the group plans to work next week on provisions that would
allow potential prison terms for some offenders that otherwise would have
received community sentencing under the original truth-in-sentencing law.

Steidley said the committee has not begun to consider whether judges should
be allowed to use a wider range of sentences for offenders with lengthy
criminal records. But Hobson said opening up sentencing ranges "would throw
out the whole concept of truth in sentencing."

Hobson and Steidley each said they believe the legislative panel can work
out a revision bill before the end of the legislative session.

Benson said that July 1 implementation of the original truth-in- sentencing
law could cause problems in areas that are not prepared to implement
community sentencing programs.

He noted that local community sentencing boards have requested $112 million
from the state to implement the community programs for the upcoming fiscal
year.

Hobson said $112 million is unrealistic. He said many local boards did not
budget a phase-in of community programs and simply assumed the program for
an estimated 4,000 offenders would start up full-scale beginning July 1.

He said a more realistic figure for the upcoming fiscal year would be $11
million. Delay of implementation would result in less money being required
by the counties, he said.