OREGON CRIME FIGHTING ACT (INITIATIVE PETITION 13) RECEIVES FINAL FINANCIAL IMPACT ESTIMATE

The committee charged with the responsibility for writing the financial impact statement for the Oregon Crime Fighting Act completed work on July 30, 2010.  On behalf of the Oregon Anti-Crime Alliance, I monitored the process and suggested changes to the initial draft statement.  Several of my suggestions were adopted, and I helped craft the final language for the completed statement at the meeting last Friday.

 In short, the measure sets a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for serious repeat sex offenders and makes the third conviction for drunken driving a felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of 90 days in jail.

There is no cost for the repeat sex offender provision until after the year 2017 (more than 7 years away) because repeat sex offenders already go to prison for an average of 15 years.

There is a state cost for the repeat intoxicated driver provisions, as offenders will be incarcerated in prison.  In the first year, the cost is $1.4 million, and it goes up after that to between $18.1 million and $29.1 million in the fifth year.  However, the county governments save money, and in the first year the savings is $400,000.  Thus the net cost is only $1 million in the first year.  After the first year, the counties save between $3.2 million and $4.6 million per year.

The cost goes up after the first year because there are several hundred drunken drivers who are convicted of their third driving under the influence charge. Each of these offenders will most likely spend about 13 months in prison. It costs about $84 a day to incarcerate a person in an Oregon penitentiary.

Remember, good public safety policy costs money, and this measure is good policy because it saves lives by reducing the fatal and injury crashes caused by repeat drunken drivers.