Big happenings under the dome

This will be a huge week for the Legislature--at least in terms of goings-on. Today, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called a special session to deal with the state's prison crisis. Oh, and the four legislative leaders have hammered out a compromise on the budget, according to Speaker Nunez. And it's only Monday morning. According to the governor's office, the special session is called beginning June 27th and will "address critical prison crowding and recidivism measures." "Our prisons are at the crisis point because the State of California has not planned adequately for its future and has not faced up to the need to build new prisons as well as hire and train more officers. I am calling on my partners in the Legislature to join me in taking action to face these challenges head on," said Gov. Schwarzenegger. "By building more prisons, managing the inmate population more effectively and implementing common-sense measures that target the most dangerous criminals, we can greatly improve our prison and rehabilitation system. "We can enact meaningful reform that ensures the safety of our correctional staff and makes sure more of our parolees stay out of prison after they're released. If we work together, I know we can do this and once again give California a model prison system." Here's the Gov's four priorities for the session: . Building more prisons · Establishing local secure re-entry facilities · Placing non-violent women in community correctional facilities · Expediting state contracting As for the budget, no details have been released yet, but Nunez's office has the following statement from the legislative leaders: ““We have reached a tentative agreement on a balanced, responsible budget today after several months of productive discussion. It reflects the values of both parties and moves our state forward. We hope to have a vote prior to July 1st,” he said The Assembly will have session at 5pm today.