Amador County – Assemblywoman Alyson Huber is pushing to allow local jurisdictions pool funds to operate Preston, or other closed state facilities.

Huber continues to fight to keep Preston Youth Correctional Facility operating, by seeking to add budget language that would allow its operation by a Joint Power Authority agreement made among local counties and officials.

Huber’s recent bill to try to slow down the closure of Preston was defeated in committee as the California Department of Corrections moves to close the facility. Huber Chief of Staff Tim Reardon said Monday that Huber is now trying to insert some language into the state budget bill to allow local counties to form a Joint Power Authority so local counties can use their funding together so that they can still have those facilities in which to put wards returned by the state.

Reardon said the plan would keep Preston useful, keep it open as a facility and keep it going in Amador County. The budget is due in June. He said Huber will be trying to talk to local officials and set some meeting to discuss the issue.

Counties are getting back the wards, as the Juvenile Justice portion of budget will be trying to phase out all of facilities, Reardon said. It will give back funding to counties, but “startup costs may not be part of what they get.” So if counties work together, they might be able to handle that cost. He said the “money they get is not going to be enough to startup or to handle these programs.” The aim is to keep Preston vital and keep it as a facility.

He said the juvenile justice portion of the budget is trying to get in this other language to allow local counties, under a Joint Power Authority agreement, “to negotiate with the state to use a facility like Preston.” It would allow multiple counties to get funding and keep the facility running. Reardon said they still have “some hoops to jump through,” but “Alyson is committed to keeping Preston open” and finding viable alternatives to doing so.

He said California Department of Corrections is pretty firm about not changing its mind about the decision to close Preston, and they have some “essential fiscal realities in their case.”

Reardon said they are in the process of setting up meetings to put the issue on the plates of local officials, to make inroads into the communities, and start to “see how local officials would want to see it structured.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.