My name is Jesse Kelley, and I am the Government Affairs Manager for Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties policy at the R Street Institute, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization. I am writing alongside my colleague, Lars Trautman, a Senior Fellow at R Street. Our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government in many areas, specifically including reforms that propose alternatives to arrest, which is why these bills are of particular interest to us.
We agree with the Jails Task Force’s recommendation that when safe and feasible to do so individuals should be given a citation and allowed the opportunity to voluntarily appear in court to answer certain criminal charges rather than being arrested and booked into jail. Therefore, we support both SB 1046 and SB 1047.