The state budget proposed by House Republicans Tuesday would slash budgets for courts, public safety and prisons by about 10 percent, while making sweeping changes to how the agencies are organized.
All told, the GOP budget writers propose cuts of about $260 million and eliminate about 1,400 jobs.
The proposed consolidation plan would combine the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Department of Correction into one agency called the Department of Public Safety.
GOP budget writers say the consolidation, to take effect Jan. 2012, would save $2.2 million a year through eliminating executive-level positions and efficiencies in procurement, training and facilities costs.
The N.C. Crime Lab would be removed from the oversight of the Attorney General Roy Cooper and the SBI to become part of the new agency.
About $7.8 million would be cut from the state Department of Justice, which is run by the attorney general. The department would lose about 91 jobs.
The proposed budget cuts include cuts of about $4.9 million from Crime Control and Public Safety, including the elimination of about 70 jobs. About 40 of those positions would be cut from the State Capitol Police, which is about half of the force's staff.
About $39.5 million would be cut from the state court system, including the elimination of 390 jobs. Another $8.8 million would be cut from the state program that provides legal assistance to the poor.
Meanwhile, the budget would generate an estimated $58 million in new revenue through raising various court costs and fees.
The state's prison and probation systems would lose about $93.6 million, along with 559 jobs.
The jobs eliminated include 54 prison chaplains and $39 correctional officers who run community work crews that pick up litter. The budget would also seek to close an unspecified number of state prison beds.
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention programs would be cut by about $15.5 million, costing 281 jobs.
