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Mannix said there is no deal yet concerning a compromise bill, which the Senate Judiciary Committee took up for the first time on Thursday. He already has submitted about 150,000 signatures, about 83,000 of which are required to qualify his initiative for the Nov. 4 statewide ballot.

"They're almost asking me to negotiate against myself," Mannix said later. "It's not like we're adding anything to this package in exchange for reductions, just to do less here and there. It's not over, but there is no comprehensive deal that's been agreed to."

District attorneys and legislators are negotiating a less-costly alternative, which would be incorporated into Senate Bill 1087, that would focus increased penalties on repeat offenders.

"Our preferred approach here is an enactment during the session," said John Foote, the Clackamas County district attorney.

"We understand it is a complicated path, and we will seek an alternative if that's not possible. But that's how we would like to see this end this session, and move forward with a solution that helps the problem. We are close on many principles."

It is uncertain whether Mannix can withdraw his measure once signatures are filed. The proposed alternative does contain a referral to voters Nov. 4.

The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission has estimated that Mannix's measure would add 4,000 to 6,000 inmates to the state system, which now tops 13,000, and require spending $256 million to $400 million more in the two-year prison budget. The alternative's price tag is estimated at $55 million per year.

Majority Democrats said Mannix's measure will cost too much.

Mannix was the chief sponsor of a 1994 initiative, known as Measure 11, that set mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes.

Raul Ramirez, the now-retired Marion County sheriff, said police still want tougher sentences for property and drug crimes.

"Our arrests have continued to increase, not decrease," Ramirez said.

Mannix's proposed initiative does not come with funding attached, though he has sponsored a different initiative to earmark 15 percent of lottery proceeds for public safety, on top of other voter-approved earmarks for an education reserve fund and parks and watersheds.

No specific source of money is identified for the lesser alternative, but the pending bill would tie in drug treatment programs with the increased penalties.

"If you enhance sanctions and provide treatment beds, then the governor believes you will see a change in people who are cycling through the system and repeating (crime) at a higher rate," said Joseph O'Leary, Gov. Ted Kulongoski's senior adviser on public safety.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/STATE/80
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