Latest news with #AssemblyBill109
Los Angeles Times
06-08-2025
- Los Angeles Times
As inmate population declines, Norco prison will close. Will it be a luxury hotel again?
A Riverside County state correctional facility housing nearly 3,000 inmates is slated to close in fall 2026, continuing a wave of recent prison shutdowns, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday. A declining prison population and multimillion-dollar cost savings for the state were the motivating factors for the shuttering, according to the department. The Norco prison is a Level 2 medium-security correctional facility holding 2,766 inmates who committed felonies. Approximately 1,200 workers staff the prison, according to the department. No inmates are expected to be released early because of the closure and will instead be transferred to existing facilities, the CDCR said. The department noted it would attempt to transfer employees at the facility to other sites and to other jobs throughout the state. It did not say in its release, however, if there would be layoffs. A call to a corrections spokesperson was not immediately returned. The state is expected to save $150 million annually due to the closure. Will Matthews, a spokesperson for nonprofit crime victims advocacy group Californians for Safety and Justice, said he hoped the state would redirect some of that savings toward 'creating safety at the community level.' 'If you look at how crime has dropped in the last decade, it's been an effort to balance criminal justice with programs that reduce crime and help prevent harm,' Matthews said. 'That includes housing support programs, drug treatment and job training, which has worked.' Homicides in the city of Los Angeles are projected to hit their lowest levels in 60 years, according to a July report from the Los Angeles Police Department. Killings are also down in Los Angeles County. Statewide, crimes including arson (5.8%), burglary (13.9%), assaults (1.8%) and auto thefts (15.5%) all saw drops statewide from 2023 to 2024, according to the Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice. Falling crime rates have equated to smaller prison populations, the CDCR said. The department noted that the inmate population across its 30 prisons is roughly 91,000, which is nearly half of the 173,000 people incarcerated in 2006. Matthews said that drop had been partly facilitated by the passing of criminal justice reform measures, such as Proposition 57 in 2016, which allowed parole consideration for people convicted of nonviolent felonies. The CDCR noted other reforms, such as Assembly Bill 109, which shifted some prison populations from state to county facilities, also helped lower inmate populations. 'We commend both Gov. Gavin Newsom and CDCR for their historic and continued commitment to moving California away from overspending on a system that doesn't deliver on safety,' said Tinisch Hollins, executive director for Californians for Safety and Justice, in a statement. Norco's closure continues a recent trend of shuttering correctional institutions, with facilities closed in Tracy in 2021, Susanville in 2023 and in Blythe this year. In total, the CDCR said it had recently deactivated 11 facilities and portions of two others, along with 42 housing units across 11 prisons. What the future holds for Norco's facility — which at one time was a resort — remains a mystery. The CDCR said it would implement a 'warm shutdown' process that would maintain the property in a state of readiness to either be reused or sold. The Norco City Council did not issue a comment about the facility's closing and said it was unsure how the closure would affect the community. In its release, the CDCR said 'the state will provide support to the affected local community and workforce with an economic resiliency plan' but did not offer details. One of the City Council's adopted legislative platform priorities is to advocate for the adaptive reuse of the former Norconian Hotel and Resort property. 'The City of Norco remains hopeful that one day, this historic gem will be restored to its former glory as a resort and will become a regional economic driver,' the City Council wrote in a statement to The Times. The correctional facility first opened in 1928 as the Lake Norconian Club, a luxury hotel. It was repurposed during World War II into a Naval hospital before the federal government donated the medical building in 1962 for use as a narcotics center. It took its current form, as a correctional facility, during the 1980s.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Precious water: Nevada lawmakers have decisions ahead on conservation bills
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Why should some mining companies and geothermal energy projects get a pass on rules surrounding groundwater extraction? That's the basic question behind a bill in the Nevada Legislature, one of several proposed laws surrounding water issues this session. Assembly Bill 109 (AB109), dubbed the 'water application fairness bill,' challenges a loophole that allows some companies to escape regulatory reviews that come in the permitting process. 'Consumptive use' of water gets a fresh look in AB109. The bill doesn't go along with the thinking that nothing has really changed if the water is returned to where it was removed. 'Yes, you can return water to the source after it's pumped. But that pumping throws off aquifers. And it unstabilizes and unbalances aquifers. And so even if you return ever drop, you can still have major impacts on an aquifer and water can go in different directions and go to different places,' according to Kyle Roerink, executive director of the conservation-minded Great Basin Water Network. 'And so then you're harming springs, which are surface expressions of groundwater and you're harming the overall stability when you pump large quantities, even if it's returned,' Roerink said. He said AB109 fixes that, simply by requiring the permit and ensuring no one is exempt. Union workers written up, fired for using sick days; Nevada lawmaker moves to close loophole Democratic Assem. Selena La Rue Hatch is sponsoring AB109. 'During my work with the Interim Natural Resources committee it came to my attention that there was a loophole in Nevada law that may need closing. As we all know, as the driest state in the nation, our water is precious and limited. Therefore, under our current laws, all water used in the state must be put to beneficial use,' La Rue Hatch said Friday. 'To ensure this, all water uses must be reviewed by the State Engineer to ensure water is available, existing water rights will not be harmed, and the water will indeed be put to beneficial use while protecting the public interest. Unfortunately, there are some select industries who are not subject to this review and are able to use the waters of Nevada without this critical oversight,' she said. 'My intention with this bill is to ensure that all industries go through this same process and that our water is protected. This bill brings clarity to a confusing section of statute and ensures parity for all water users while protecting the water that we all hold so dear,' La Rue Hatch said. Farmers and companies involved in hard-rock mining have to apply for groundwater permits, and this bill would remove exceptions for geothermal projects and new mining methods — including some lithium mining techniques. Groundwater is serious business in Nevada. A number of endemic species live in springs that could dry up with overpumping, and 10% of the Las Vegas valley's water comes from wells, even if all you ever hear about is the 90% that comes from Lake Mead. A fiscal note for the bill indicates there are about 450 active geothermal projects across the state. Albemarle, the company that operates the only active lithium mine in the U.S. at Silver Peak, west of Tonopah, states on its website: 'We carefully measure water withdrawals and continuously monitor groundwater systems, both freshwater and brine, to confirm there are no adverse impacts to the nearby water resources.' Roerink calls it 'the most important water bill that we can pass this session' and points out that it protects wildlife, property rights, due process, the public interest, and even mining companies by ensuring their competition has to follow the same law. Another piece of legislation is the first proposal of its kind in Nevada. WATER CONSERVATION PLANS: AB134 would create a beneficial use that is a 'non-use' — a strictly conservational use, Roerink said. The bill goes beyond protecting springs for wildlife, and it's about more than fallowing fields to save water temporarily. He's concerned about the risks if water 'profiteering' takes hold in Nevada. 'We're an organization that's really cautious about true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool Nevadans who make a living off their water. We want to make sure that we're protecting those interests as well as being conscious that there's going to be less and less water to go around in the years to come,' Roerink said. He sees AB134 as a way to limit conflict over water in communities. The Great Basin Water Network sets out these concepts for what the bill would do: Protect the conserved or saved portion of their right from use-it-or-lose-it provisions in the law for entities that make demonstrable investments in water conservation practices. Prohibits entities from 'conserving' the entire amount of a permitted, certificated, or vested water right. This prevents abuse from speculators. Offers alternatives to buy-and-dry proposals that take water and people off the land, invite invasive weeds, and upend rural community dynamics. Makes provisions voluntary and limited for up to 10 years. Renewals would be allowed after the terms of the Water Conservation Plan expire. After a Water Conservation Plan expires, a water user could resume putting that water to use again for non-conservation purposes. The proposal respects the principle of 'enlargement,' which means another water user couldn't use the 'conserved' or 'saved' water that's flowing downstream. EXPANDING EXISTING WATER CONSERVATION INITIATIVES: Based on an existing program from 2007, AB9 could provide a way to expand conservation programs while putting safeguards in place to prevent speculative uses of water rights. Roerink sees it as a 'halfway' step that might be more acceptable to lawmakers. The bill is still in its formative stages, but it's expected to get a bill hearing next week. WATER OMNIBUS AND CLEANUP: AB104 renews the effort to retire water rights, buying back those rights from individual users across the state. That was happening with the use of COVID money, Roerink said, but it was completely through administrative channels with no framework under state law. This bill would set up that framework, but it does not request any funding for buybacks. This bill is also scheduled for a hearing next week. 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