SACRAMENTO — After the passage of Proposition 36, a ballot measure that would allow more theft and drug crimes to be charged as felonies, last year, some opponents argued that the proposal would help the state’s re-entry programs to help inmates. It warned that it would cause significant funding cuts to both the government and crime victim services.

But a new spending plan for next fiscal year released by the governor’s office is expected to have a relatively minimal impact on key programs, at least initially.

today it costs $133,000 per year imprisoning a person in California; rose dramatically In recent years. When voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014, fewer people served prison time for low-level, nonviolent theft and drug offenses, which saved the state more than $100 million a year. These savings were distributed to counties for prisoner reentry and victim assistance. This same program is currently underway.

Passage of Proposition 36, a sweeping overhaul of Proposition 47, is expected to increase prison sentences and, as a result, reduce funding for programs created by the old bill.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal would allocate $88 million this fiscal year to mental health and reentry programs for victims and former prisoners, according to records reviewed by the Times. That figure is $6 million less than the governor’s office originally projected last year.

Proposition 36, which took effect in December, received overwhelming support from voters, despite warnings from opponents that it would reignite mass incarceration that began in the 1980s, when the government declared a war on drugs.

Some counties have already begun charging theft and drug cases as felonies rather than misdemeanors under Proposition 36, but experts and advocates say the long-term effects won’t be felt for at least a year. I’m watching.

The governor’s projections show that the money saved so far from Prop. 47’s stress relief on the prison system could shrink to $24 million by fiscal year 2026-27, which is The result is that an estimated 2,700 inmates will be placed in state custody under harsh new penalties.

These numbers released by the governor’s office show a much larger reduction in state savings than nonpartisan legislative analysts had predicted before the election. that the program will be cut At “low tens of millions of dollars a year.”

Caitlin O’Neill, president of the Legislative Analyst’s Office, said it remains difficult to gauge the full impact of the new law because Prop. 36 has only been in effect for a month.

“The administration now appears to be planning a slightly larger cut,” O’Neill said in an email to the Times. “Due to the limited amount of actual data, current projections may be subject to significant uncertainty. Additionally, projections are typically revised by the administration in May.”

Los Angeles County’s executive director similarly told the Times that the county is in the early stages of developing its annual budget and “it is too early to tell what the impact will be.”

Tignish Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, which opposed Proposition 36, said she was “deeply concerned” that the measure would “undermine” crime prevention programs for years to come. “There is,” he said.

Isa Borgeson, campaign manager at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, echoed similar sentiments.

“We know that Proposition 36 will strip funding from critical programs, and we are already seeing it in action,” Borgeson said. “California is moving toward locking up more of our neighbors for low-level drug and property crimes, and we are going to strip those same people of the resources to get back on their feet or escape the criminal legal system in the first place.”

Newsom’s office estimates that despite longer sentences for some crimes, other reforms the state has enacted in recent years will still lead to a reduction in the overall prison population.

“Despite the anticipated increases from Prop. 36, the population is still projected to continue its overall long-term downward trend,” the budget statement states.