SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The California Supreme Court has allowed Gov. Jerry Brown’s bid to put his plan to reduce the state’s prison population before voters in November.
The justices Monday rejected a lower court ruling that said Brown improperly amended a juvenile justice initiative to increase sentencing credits for adult inmates and allow earlier parole for non-violent felons.
The lower court judge said the governor’s changes violated a 2014 law that requires that amendments are reasonably related to the original initiative and new initiatives receive 30 days of public comment.
Brown said the changes were needed to help keep the inmate population below the level required by federal judges, and it was too late to start over and still collect the nearly 586,000 signatures needed for a ballot measure this year.
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