Legislators already are making plans for their priority bills for 2004. Two say prison overcrowding will be major issue next session, and three others are looking at Oregon statutes as possible models for Arizona bills on other subjects.

“The main issue will be the costs of our prisons and the programming for inmates to prevent recidivism,” Sen. Mark Anderson, R-Dist. 18. “We started the process with S1291 this past session, but there is more to do to improve our system.”

Signed into law by Governor Napolitano, Mr. Anderson’s bill requires the director of the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) to establish a transition program for non-violent drug offenders beginning Jan. 1, 2004 that will permit all inmates who qualify for the outside drug treatment program to be released three months earlier than their earliest possible release date.

The governor has said she might call a special session of the Legislature this fall to deal with prison overcrowding and Corrections funding but is waiting on that decision at the request of new Corrections Director Dora Schriro, who took over the agency July 1.

During Ms. Schriro’s tenure as Missouri corrections chief, the number of former convicts who re-entered that state’s prison system on new convictions dropped to 19.2 per cent from 34 per cent. And the number of inmate lawsuits in Missouri fell to 380 from nearly 1,700 at a time when the prison population doubled in that state.

At the end of April, Arizona’s prison system had 31,000 inmates, 4,200 more than it was designed for, and the Legislature did not approve an additional $31 million Ms. Napolitano requested for the department.

Overcrowded Prisons, Aid In Dying

In reply to an Arizona Capitol Times e-mail question about possible legislation for next year’s session, Rep. Phil Hanson, R-Dist. 9, said he will be working on bills to relieve prison overcrowding, “including changes to truth in sentencing laws, home arrest, mandatory sentencing, etc.”

Oregon is of interest to several Arizona legislators.

Rep. Linda Lopez, D-Dist. 29, said she will reintroduce her “Aid in Dying” bill, which is modeled after Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law. Her bill in the 2003 session (H2454) was held in the House Health Committee.

Rep. Michele Reagan, R-Dist. 8, said, “I am interested in a law in Oregon that limits passage of an initiative if a certain percentage of the population didn’t vote in the election. This would make it harder for a vocal minority to pass initiatives.”

Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Dist. 22, said he is studying Oregon’s Department of Human Services as a model for what he called “one-stop shopping” for all state social and economic services as a way to “streamline” Arizona’s Department of Economic Services.

Sen. Jack Harper, R-Dist. 4, wrote, “I intend to introduce a bill to exempt active military service members from Arizona from paying state income tax. In many cases, service members from Arizona change their home of record to Florida or Texas. Those are two states that do not tax active duty service members.

“I want our men and women to be proud of the state they are from and still be able to vote in Arizona elections . . .” Mr. Harper said. —