As soon as this summer, shoplifters could pilfer $250 in merchandise and walk away with a fine. Same for those who buy or sell up to an ounce of marijuana or who fence stolen goods. Bad checks up to $125 would get similar treatment, as would credit fraud under $250.

A Senate bill that would dramatically change the criminal justice system -- reducing sentences, changing misdemeanors to petty misdemeanors, vastly increasing fees -- is under serious consideration as a means of dealing with the state's gaping $4.6 billion budget deficit and relieving pressure on an overburdened court system.

Backed by Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul, it would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for felony drunken driving and delay felonies to the fifth offense. Under other provisions, with time off for good behavior, prisoners at most levels could be released after serving as little as 60 percent of their sentences, and parole violators would see jail time limited to 90 days. Harassment restraining orders, a staple of domestic abuse cases, would disappear.

The bill that would make all these changes and more carries an innocuous label: Miscellaneous Criminal Justice System Changes. But some at the Capitol are calling it the Freedom to Steal Act and scratching their heads over how far the state will go to save a buck.

In addition to penalty changes, the bill imposes a cascade of fee increases on nearly every piece of paper that moves through the court system, adding new $1-per-page charges on top of general increases in filing and copying fees to raise $28 million over two years.

With fewer offenders going to prison and prisoners serving shorter sentences, the bill would eliminate 1,000 beds from the prison system, triggering layoffs and possibly the closure of a prison. The sentencing changes would save $30 million over four years, with $8 million of that coming from lighter drunken-driving sentences.

A memo from Corrections Commissioner Joan Fabian said the 7 percent cut proposed by the Senate -- part of its proposal to trim government across-the-board -- would pull $66 million out of the system. "Cuts of this magnitude would severely compromise staff and public safety," she wrote.

The effects of budget cuts

The bill is scheduled to pass out of Judiciary tonight and could go to the Senate floor as early as next week. Moua said the public should be aware of what coming budget cuts may entail.

"I'm uneasy with some of these policy shifts," she said. "But the situation we're in requires all of us to move outside our comfort zone. I'm willing to have the courage to talk about this shift. Do I absolutely want all of this to become law? I'm not sure. Might we have to do it anyway? It's possible. That's why we have this proposal." Being tough on crime, she said, "does not equal prison time."

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman agrees but said the changes could hurt public safety. "This is about saving money," he said. "I get that. But some of this is just not well thought out. We already have the second-lowest incarceration rate per capita in the 50 states."

Freeman said he found the provisions on drunken driving and reduced sentences particularly disturbing. "Arriving at tougher felony DWI laws was a long, hard fight in this state and the data shows it's working for repeat offenders," he said. A change that would allow good prisoners to serve 60 percent of their time instead of two-thirds could result in aggravated robbery convicts getting out after as little as 28 months, he said. A felony DWI offender who was sentenced to 86 months might get out after 52 months.

"We need to make changes," he said, "but we need to have some rational dialogue."

Fine-tuning likely

Moua said the bill will be fine-tuned but said no one should think they'll walk away from the state's fiscal crisis unscathed.

Earlier this year, Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson signaled that cuts to the courts would force him to curtail activities, including suspension of conciliation court, reduced dockets and other measures.

"If there are changes to be made, I want them to be done here, where we can let the public have some input," said Moua. "I don't want it done administratively in August, when it's too late for us to do anything about it."

Legislators are fast running out of time and options for crafting solutions to the budget deficit. Pawlenty opposes all of their tax increase proposals and Senate DFLers have rejected his one-time money solutions.

So far, the DFL-led House has shown little inclination to follow the Senate's lead on crime. Asked if there was a companion bill in the House, Majority Leader Tony Sertich replied, "God, I hope not."

Moua said that many of the provisions would sunset in two years.

Retailers, others worried

But that's cold comfort to retailers and others facing the prospect of shoplifters, check kiters and credit fraud artists who might see little deterrent in a $500 fine.

St. Paul City Attorney John Choi said that diversion programs promoted by Moua and others work in part because of the threat of a criminal record and possible jail time. "We need that hammer," he said.

Jake Sanders says that 95 percent of those who visit his two Shop in the City boutiques in Minneapolis are honest and valued customers. But an $89 spring coat got lifted the other day. So did a $129 shirt the staff hung in a spot they thought would make it harder to steal.

Sanders stopped taking checks recently because it had become too difficult and costly to collect on fraudulent checks.

Retailers already see about 2 percent of their inventory vanish in a variety of ways. Losses can reach 20 percent for small retailers, according to a 2006 National Retail Security survey. Nearly half those losses come from employee theft and about a third from shoplifting.

Brian McClung, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's spokesman, said Pawlenty opposes reducing criminal penalties. "People in the court system are interested in reform and so are we, but from our perspective, you have to be very careful in how you do that," McClung said.

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