Reports: Number of mentally ill behind bars doubled in last decade

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —A group of local pastors are calling on authorities in Sacramento County to offer medical treatment, instead of jail time, to mentally ill people who confront police officers.

After responding to years of budget cuts, Sacramento County law enforcement leaders said Tuesday they want more money to improve their crime-fighting efforts.

In advance of next month’s county budget hearings, supervisors held a workshop Tuesday to hear from Sheriff Scott Jones, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and Chief Probation Officer Lee Seale.

Jones, who has a budget of about $400 million, said he needs an additional $7 million to make the department more community-oriented and not simply one that responds to emergencies.

Sacramento Area Congregations Together is holding a free community forum with the Board of State and Community Corrections.

The forum will discuss regional, state and local priorities for expanding alternatives to incarceration and reducing recidivism in Sacramento and the state.

The forum will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, at the South Sacramento Christian Center, 7710 Stockton Blvd. in Sacramento.

A sizable majority of Sacramento voters favors setting a higher minimum wage locally, according to a poll commissioned by community groups that are pushing the idea.

David Binder Research, a San Francisco firm, conducted the telephone survey of 500 Sacramento voters. It found 70 percent of Sacramento voters would support a measure to raise the city’s minimum wage to $13.50 an hour. And 58 percent of voters said they would approve raising Sacramento’s wage floor to $15 an hour over three years.

McDonald’s corporate spin machine is trying to pull a fast one, touting the company’s announcement of a modest hourly increase for a tiny fraction of workers as real progress (“McDonald’s new pay raise offers workers a break,” Editorials, April 4).

But the facts of the fast food giant’s abysmal relationship with its employees speak for themselves.

SACRAMENTO - Democratic legislative leaders are proposing a package of 10 bills that would extend health care, legal rights and business protections to immigrants who are illegally living in California.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins of San Diego and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles will led a legislative push Tuesday to expand health coverage to all Californians, regardless of their immigration status.

"They deserve healthcare, they deserve education, they deserve the right to be full and participating members as Californians," Atkins said.

It’s a statement of our times when politicians exclude poor people from medical services – and people of good conscience shrug their shoulders.

This happened to some of the poorest, most vulnerable people in Sacramento County in February 2009. Overwhelmed by the torrent of scary economic news, Sacramento residents raised little objection when the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted to stop funding health care for undocumented immigrants. I honestly can’t remember whether I knew about it or not.

As the recession decimated Sacramento County’s revenue in 2009, supervisors voted to end health care for undocumented immigrants. For some it was a painful decision. For others it was overdue.

Today the county’s finances are in better shape, and supervisors are cautiously looking at restoring some level of health care services to thousands of low-income residents who are not here legally. State lawmakers also are considering policy changes that would broaden health care assistance for undocumented residents.