California has the highest per capita rate of incarceration of any state - or it did until Proposition 36.

California is really a model of excellence in safety belt use. It has the highest belt use rate in this country. In fact, they are the first state to have an international level belt use at 88.9 percent. They are really saving some of the high-risk drivers, such as teen-agers.

( The state )has a budget hammer and regulatory power. Are they using it to the best effect?

Proposition 36 is tremendously successful at saving lives, at saving money, at keeping families together and at turning people into taxpayers instead of tax users. It is not a silver bullet. But nothing better has been proposed by anyone.

We would like to see it picked up in other states, but we don't necessarily have millions on hand to run voter initiatives, and not every state has voter initiatives.

The first of these is the high levels of incarceration, even though we are aware of your high rate of criminality.