WELL THAT didn't take long.

Just two years after passing sentencing laws that put fewer Oregonians into state prisons, influential Democratic lawmakers are signaling they want to snatch money aimed at keeping those would-be inmates out.

The move, if approved in lengthy budget discussions that will begin next month, would siphon two-thirds of the money Governor John Kitzhaber wants to funnel toward new, innovative justice programs around the state over the next two years—a reduction of nearly $40 million. Some also say it would amount to a broken promise.

Now, local officials who'd been counting on millions in new money to help curb crime in Portland are wondering if they'll be able to make progress after all.

"When you put a long-term project out there... you don't then jerk the chair away from underneath," Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey, a former state representative who voted for the reforms, said at a county board of commissioners meeting Thursday, January 15. "It's important to continue that program for credibility."

Bailey's concern had roots in the "budget framework" released the day before by State Senator Richard Devlin and State Representative Peter Buckley—co-chairs of the Oregon Legislature's powerful budget committee. Buckley and Devlin want to ease up somewhat on a deal that lawmakers made back in 2013 to reinvest money saved through prison reforms back into county justice programs.

In his own proposed budget, Kitzhaber recommended doling out $58.5 million to counties over the next two years. That's the entire amount the Oregon Department of Corrections is supposed to save because of lighter sentencing guidelines that keep more offenders in their communities. Previously, they would've likely seen prison time.

Devlin and Buckley have other ideas for the money. They'd like to put most of it toward schools, leaving just $20 million in a special state fund for "justice reinvestment grants."

"The intent has always been to hold down costs in other parts of the budget to better fund education," Buckley tells the Mercury. "Senator Devlin and I had never been part of a discussion or any kind of agreement that the savings would be reinvested somehow in public safety."

Some say that's not the case. House Bill 3194, the legislation that ushered in those new sentencing reforms, says that the Oregon Legislature "declares that future savings resulting from the passage of this 2013 act must continue to be invested in our local public safety systems." That language does not specify whether all of the savings must be tapped, which is a point Buckley's leaning on.

"Some people may have thought one thing, and some may have thought another," says Doug Harcleroad, the former Lane County district attorney who now acts as executive director of the Oregon District Attorneys Association. "I can read the language in the bill they voted for."

The state's prosecutors were among the strongest voices in the discussions over 2013's sentencing reforms. They negotiated for some crimes to be tossed from the package of lightened sentences, and wanted a commitment that savings could be pumped back into the community to help stop people from reoffending.

"These savings are short-lived if we don't continue to invest in helping those offenders stay out of prison," says Harcleroad. "These guys need stable housing, they need drug and alcohol treatment, they need job skills and a job. All of those things cost money."

Portland has much to gain—and lose—from the outcome of this tussle. Multnomah County accounts for roughly a fifth of the state's prison population, and the recent reforms are keeping more offenders in the community here than anywhere else. That's an opportunity if Portland officials also get a yearly windfall to help those offenders transition and succeed. It's worrying if lawmakers decide that money should go toward other things.

In the first round of the grants, Multnomah County received $3.1 million. Much of that went toward a process for better evaluating criminal offenders, determining early on which defendants should go to prison, and which should be given probation ["Sentence Structure," News, May 14, 2014].

But that first $3 million was always seen as a starting point. Local justice officials have been clamoring for nearly four times that in the next budget ["Taking the Long View," News, Oct 8, 2014]. Under Kitzhaber's proposal, Multnomah County would see nearly $12 million to reinvest in the next two years. Under Buckley and Devlin's framework, it could be closer to $4 million.

"To make a big turn in institutions that are cumbersome takes a commitment over time," Multnomah County Commissioner Judy Shiprack, who's helped steer reform money for local justice efforts, tells the Mercury. "It also takes really clear understanding by all partners about what you're trying to accomplish."

The fight over this money is just beginning. Beyond local justice officials and county lobbyists, lawmakers are almost certain to hear from organizations around the state when the legislative session begins February 2. And the state's newly weakened contingent of Republican lawmakers is speaking up as well.

State Senator Jackie Winters, a Salem Republican, used her party's official response to the Democratic framework to call out the lack of justice reinvestment money.

"We plowed some really good ground when we did 3194, and I want to be certain the dollars are adequate in carrying that mission out," Winters tells the Mercury.

Then she adds: "Anything is possible in this building. That I need to tell you."