SACRAMENTO, CALIF. ? Satellite tracking technology, a staple of weather forecasting and military operations for decades, is the latest tool California can use to ease its overburdened parole and probation system under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The bill, written by Democratic state Sen. Jackie Speier, clears the way for the state and its counties to continuously monitor the location of people on probation or parole by using global positioning system devices.

Although expensive – the cost runs close to $9 a day for each person tracked – widespread use of the GPS system could dramatically reduce repeat criminal offenses and in turn save the state as much as $1 billion a year.

“It’s important to note that the system works,” said Speier, who cited Florida as an example. Repeat offenses of GPS-monitored parolees in that state dropped by 50 percent.

California counties have shied away from GPS monitoring without clear legal authority to employ it. But with Speier’s measure now law, probation officials in Santa Clara, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties are ready to consider the option.

California has 115,000 parolees and 250,000 on probation, according to the state Department of Corrections. A report done by the Little Hoover Commission in 2003 said although nearly 42 percent of parolees successfully complete parole nationally, only 25 percent manage to stay out of trouble in California.