Associated Students, Inc. Senate voted to take the proposition 47 motion off the agenda due to time constrictions.
The Senate was deciding whether to ask the CSU Board of Trustees to consider supporting the proposition, ASI Vice President Nayiri Baghdassarian said at the weekly ASI Senate meeting.
The Senate decided to table the motion indefinitely because by the time the motion could be voted on and approved, the CSU Board of Trustees would not be able to meet on the matter until Nov. 12, Baghdassarian said.
The proposition is on the 2014 ballot for the election on Nov. 4. The board would not see motion until it was too late to do anything, Baghdassarian said.
ASI Executive Director Richard Haller recommended that the Senate, and particularly senators heavily invested in the motion, look for other avenues to fight for this cause.
“It is too late for prop. 47, but this is still a cause worth pursuing,” Haller said.
This proposition would reduce classification of some “non-serious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from felonies to misdemeanors, according to the California General Election Official Voter Information Guide November 2014.
65 percent of the money saved from fewer incarcerations would go toward the Board of State and Community, 25 percent to the Department of Education and 10 percent for Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, according to the information voter guide.
Senior social work major Amber Patton said that prop 47 seems beneficial.
“I think it would absolutely be a good thing to put more money into the education system instead of prisons.” Patton said.
According to the analysis in a sample ballot, there are 220,000 felony convictions in California annually, with about 40,000 being over-sentences. Masters student for the public administration program Joey Hernandez said he believes the passing of prop 47 would be “wonderful.”
“We as a state have an incredible rate of over-incarceration,” Hernandez said. “This proposition could be a game changer in criminal justice reform.”
