California prisons receiver says he needs $7 billion now for healthcare
The state's failure to give him money to build seven facilities is the result of 'deliberate obstruction,' he says. He may seek a federal court order to obtain the funds.
SACRAMENTO — In his broadest, harshest critique of state officials yet, the court- appointed overseer of healthcare in state prisons said Tuesday he would run out of money soon and had begun preparing to seize the funding he needs with an order from a federal judge.
Receiver J. Clark Kelso, who had previously directed most of his displeasure at state lawmakers for refusing to approve his $7-billion plan to construct prison healthcare facilities, on Tuesday added Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Controller John Chiang and the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office to the list of officials showing "an unwillingness to accept accountability."
"The state's failure to make the necessary financial commitment is not a result of inadvertent neglect or mere incompetence," Kelso said in a filing to U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who appointed him. "It is a result of conscious, deliberate obstruction."
Kelso told reporters that although he still hopes state officials will cooperate, preferably by borrowing the money he needs, he has begun laying the groundwork to ask Henderson to issue an order for the money. That could take the form of an injunction directing Chiang to pay the receiver's bills or a draft on state bank accounts and could occur within a couple of months, he said.
"There will come a time when I simply run out of money, and sometime before then I will be forced to take more substantial steps," Kelso said.
Last month, state Senate Republicans blocked SB 1665, a bill authorizing the receiver to borrow $7 billion to build seven healthcare facilities for inmates, to comply with orders in a federal lawsuit against the state. In part, he blamed a report by the legislative analyst's office questioning the need for his 10,000-bed plan, and said it was full of misleading and inaccurate statements.
Dan Carson, who directs the analyst's criminal justice unit, said his office did nothing to sabotage Kelso and recommended $2 billion in funding, even though the receiver failed to provide "very basic information" to justify such a large request.
Within days of the bill's defeat, Kelso demanded that Schwarzenegger and Chiang provide him money, starting with $70 million, though the state is in fiscal crisis. But he said they have indicated they will not provide it.
Chiang's spokeswoman, Hallye Jordan, said the office has been exploring options with Kelso but has told him that the controller is prohibited from cutting a check without an appropriation from lawmakers or a court order.
