ObamaCare

I know,this does not concern criminal procedure, but...it does concern the Constitution! So, that is close, I guess. NEWS FLASH: Obamacare law ruled unconstitutional! Yes, I know, everyone is saying the SCOTUS held the law constitutional. Well, they actually did...and they did not. The bottom line is the law stands as to a individual mandate that those who don't have health insurance must pay a "tax" up to the level of the cost of insurance. The court rejected that Congress has this power under the Commerce Clause...This is huge. The decision in effect says the the federal government does not have the power to compel an individual to engage in commerce. Had the court found the mandate constitutional under the Commerce Clause, then as one justice put it, they can force you to eat vegatables!. The court noted that prior court decisions mandates that if there is a "reasonable" way to find an act of Congress constitutional, it is required to do so. So, to that end, the majority held that Congress has the power to tax and, irrespecive of the language in the law that the mandate is a "penalty", it is really a tax. Hell, the law orders and funds the hiring of 1600 new IRS agents to collect the money.....sounds like a tax to me. So, if viewed as a "tax", the individual mandate is very, very narrowly constitutional. The big deal of ObamaCare was what it did to the Medicaid program. This was the universal healthcare part of the law. ObamaCare would have changed the rules for who would be eligible for Medicaid. Currently, only the elderly, children, disabled, etc. who are at a fraction of the federal poverty level are eligible. ObamaCare mandates that EVERYONE who is at 133% or less of the federal poverty level is eligible for free health care!!! The cost a mere 3.3 trillion dollars over ten years. And here is the kicker, if the states don't enact the new provisions, the feds pull every dollar of Medicaid money sent to the state. The SCOTUS said, NO..... that is the federal government taking over the states. That is not an enducement, as Justice Roberts said, that's "a gun to the head". Unconstitutional. States are now free to decide if they want a huge new federal health care program or not, and if the decide no, then the existing medicaid program continues. This was the real meat of the law and it was found unconstitutional. The attention the individual mandate to buy insurance or pay a "tax" got all the attention, but the real impact would have come from this 3.3 trillion dollar part of the law. The above is an oversimplified version of the decision. Unlike most, I have read the entire decision. What is the result?. Well, November 2012 will be critical. Those who support socialized health care call the decision a "big win". If you boil it down, the decision is not much of a win at all, and the limitations on the Commerce Clause which come out of this decision makesit pretty clear you are not going to federal prison if you refuse to eat your vegatables.

A New World

Assembly Bill 109. Here in California it has become very clear that the state is broke. It has actually been broke for about five years, but by creative budget manipulation, the states elected officials have been able to forestall the judgement day. The chickens are finding their way home and there is nothing that the politicians can do to to ignore the reality. Part of governor Jerry Brown's effort to deal with the costs of imprisoning the state's felons has resulted in the passage into law of a bill which shifts costs to the counties and off the state's general fund.

In short, what the new law does is shift so called non violent state prison inmates to county jails. County jails, in turn, have received some funding from the state to handle the costs. People I talk to that are in the business of babysitting felons say the money is not enough. What a surprise.

An unintended impact of this shift of prisoners is starting to emerge. Prison inmates prefer state prison to county jails. There is more room, better TV, more recreation, more educational opportunities, more vocational programs, better medical care, more gangs, and more drugs. State prisoners are not happy. They are forming groups, new gangs, and conspiracies and are far, far more dangerous than the average county jail population. It appears clear that assaults on county correctional officers is going to increase, and I predict this to be a dramatic increase. County jails are turning into small versions of state prisons without the tools or money to handle it.

Another impact is surfacing. County jails are intended to house minor offenders and major offenders awaiting trial. These inmates attitudes toward jail staff are significantly more cooperative when they are yet to be convicted. That is what is changing. Additionally, because the jails are now over crowded due to an influx of state prison inmates, local offenders are left outside. That is, local newly arrested criminals cannot be housed in jail. In one north state county, parole violators cannot be put in jail..... no room. In one case, the parole violater then assaulted the parole agent in the jail lobby and the jail STILL would to accept him as a prisoner.....

In my county the other night, two armed robbers were released on a citation rather than being held in jail. Property and exonomic crime defendants cannot be placed in custody....no room. Even when law enforcement catches the burglar who broke into your home and stole all your stuff, he will be booked and immediately released to return to stealing. Those who fleese the elderly of their life savings, welfare cheats, bad check writers, identity thieves will walk free the same day they are arrested.

And......so far here in the north sate, there have been two murders committed by people who, but for the overcrowding of the prisons and the jails, would have been in custody....That is just in the last two months.

When the smoke clears on the impact of AB109, I believe the body count will be high and it will be recorded as the single most important factor which contributed to the increase of violent crime coming to a neighborhood near you soon. As for me, well...if and when they come to my home, they had better pack a lunch.