At its founding, the philanthropists pledged a combined $50 million to the organization and to create a bipartisan response to what it considered unjust sentencing laws in the United States.
[2][6] At its founding, REFORM established a goal to reduce the number of people impacted by probation and parole laws by one million over the course of five years.
[1][3][14] In September 2020, the first REFORM Alliance-supported legislation passed, when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1950 into law.
[9][15] In California, REFORM Alliance works closely with the American Conservative Union, Californians for Safety and Justice, Cut50, and Dream Corps.
[20] The laws limit jail sanctions for technical probation violations, and require parole supervision terms to be tailored to a person's individualized risks and needs.
[10] In 2021, alongside Justice Forward VA, the American Conservative Union, and Faith and Freedom, REFORM worked to pass HB 2038.
[24] If there are additional technical violations, the court must first find that there is no other safe and a less-restrictive way to deter the conduct, before imposing a term of incarceration.