October 7, 2008
Judge demands $250 million from California, stat
A federal judge seemed ready to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller John Chiang to cough up $250 million in the next few weeks for prison health care construction.
But Senior U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson isn't quite ready to hold the governor and controller in contempt of court, a move that could put California on the hook for millions of dollars in fines per day until state officials do the judge's bidding.
Henderson said the $8 billion price tag that his appointed receiver, J. Clark Kelso, has placed on construction required to bring the state's long-addled prison health care system up to constitutional snuff is "the best approximation that anyone can make at this time," and his orders have been clear that the state must pick up this tab…
LINK - InsideBayArea.com
