GOVERNOR TO SEEK MONEY FOR DRUG COURTS

Gov. Mark Warner Said His Budget Amendments Will Include $525,000 For Drug
Courts.

RICHMOND - Gov. Mark Warner will seek additional state money for drug
courts and a prisoner rehabilitation program when he amends the budget
passed by the General Assembly.

Warner said Friday that his budget amendments will include $525,000 for the
state's 12 drug courts - including one that serves the Roanoke Valley - in
the fiscal year that begins July 1. Those funds will leverage $1.6 million
in federal grants for the programs, Warner said.

Without the state funds Warner is requesting, localities that participate
in drug court programs would have to raise the matching funds to qualify
for the federal grants.

Drug courts provide alternatives to incarceration - including supervised
treatment programs - for nonviolent drug offenders. A Virginia Tech study
conducted last year concluded that drug court programs cost $4,390 per
participant, while incarceration cost $22,500 per prisoner. The recidivism
rate among participants in drug court programs is about 7 percent.

Warner said the programs' "tremendous record of success stories" convinced
him that "these are dollars well spent."

"The case that was built last year that drug courts helped the people who
had run afoul of the law, had given them a chance to rebuild their lives in
a way that cuts down on recidivism," Warner said.

Lawmakers last year cut funds for drug courts from the two-year budget that
remains in effect through June 30, 2004. After intense lobbying by the
program's advocates, Warner restored state funds for the current fiscal
year, but funding for the upcoming fiscal year remained uncertain.

Warner said Friday that he also will seek $438,000 for pre- and
post-incarceration programs such as Virginia CARES, a Roanoke-based
nonprofit program that assists former inmates in finding housing, jobs and
counseling. The budget contains no funds for those programs in the upcoming
fiscal year. Warner said his spending proposal could enable those programs
to secure $1.3 million in federal matching dollars.

Warner also will request $223,000 for Project Exile, a program that imposes
an automatic five-year jail term on convicted felons caught with firearms.

The governor has until midnight Monday to sign, amend or veto legislation
passed by the General Assembly. Warner has yet to act on three measures
that he has threatened to reject: a ban on so-called partial-birth
abortions, a parental consent requirement for abortions performed on minors
and a repeal of the inheritance tax on estates valued at $1 million or
more. All three measures passed the legislature by veto-proof margins.

Warner's aides said the governor will unveil the remainder of his budget
amendments Monday. Warner has criticized elements of the legislature plan
for offsetting a $2.1 billion budget shortfall, particularly its strategy
for funding modest pay raises for government workers, college faculty and
public school teachers. But Warner has not ruled out the raises, hinting
that he might take a different approach to funding them.

Warner said his budget amendments also will include a plan for funding
increased security costs associated with the recent terrorism alerts.

Lawmakers will return to the Capitol on April 2 to act on Warner's vetoes
and amendments.