California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Matthew Cate says realignment will help reduce the state's inmate population close to the court-mandated benchmark of just under 140 percent of capacity - but not quite all the way.  He's hoping the court will say that's close enough.

Cate: "It's our goal to get out of all of our health care-related court oversight by the end of 2013.  Now, those are big plans, and there's still much to do."

But Republican Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, who's a fierce critic of realignment, says the new plan should have rolled it back.

Nielsen: "Getting out under the federal court order is a noble goal - but not at the risk of the public of California and at the cost of our lives and our property."

The state plan would eliminate thousands of jobs and close a prison in the Southern California town of Norco.  It also calls for the return of the nearly 10,000 inmates currently housed out-of-state by 2016.