National Conference of State Legislatures Fall Forum

I'm here at the NCSL Fall Forum in San Diego getting ready for a presentation on legislative technology and blogging. The legislative effectiveness committee also meets today, which is chaired by Robbie Wills, and I serve as vice chair. I'm also a member of the Sentencing and Correction Policy Task Force, which convened for the last two days to discuss the budget impact of prisons and sentencing changes in the states. Here in California, because of the three strikes law, spending on corrections has more than quadrupled over the last 15 years, which has cut into all other types of crucial spending, including education. It's also an issue that we've begun to study in Arkansas, and it's interesting to see statistics of inmates locked up for violent offenses vs those non-violent offenders, parole violators, etc.

I'll be blogging the technology presentation live at 3:00 pm this afternoon Arkansas time.