The state Assembly will return Monday after adjourning late Thursday night without acting on a controversial bill passed earlier by the Senate to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on state prisons.
Legislative leaders are preparing a competing proposal to bring up for a vote early next week.
The plan approved by the Senate, which was championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would reduce the time lower-level inmates spend behind bars and on parole. It stalled as a host of Assembly members vying for higher office refused to vote in a way that could portray them as soft on crime.
