Democrats are choosing sides in California’s crime and punishment fight over Prop. 36
A group of Democratic city and county officials launched a new effort to support Proposition 36, breaking with Gov. Gavin Newsom and other members of their party over the crime-and-punishment ballot measure.
Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho, Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan were joined by dozens of small business owners and people impacted by the fentanyl crisis in a press conference in front of the state Capitol Wednesday. They join other liberal mayors including London Breed of San Francisco and Todd Gloria of San Diego who support the measure.
Prop. 36 would increase criminal penalties for certain drug and retail theft crimes, which were loosened from felonies to misdemeanors under 2014’s Proposition 47.
“Many of us supported Prop. 47. I certainly did,” Mahan said. “But it needs to be reformed because we went from mass incarceration to a massive failure of accountability. And what we really need is mass treatment.”
Currently, theft of items worth less than $950 are generally charged as misdemeanors. Under Prop. 36, it would become a felony if a person has two or more prior theft convictions.
It would also create a “treatment-mandated felony” that would allow defendants to get drug charges dismissed if they finish court-ordered treatment. It would apply to people caught in possession of hard drugs including fentanyl who have two prior drug convictions.
It’s that provision of the measure that the local officials are zeroing in on.
As an example, District Attorney Ho pointed to the case of a person experiencing homelessness who stole from the Target store on Broadway in Sacramento “no less than 15 times, but they were in small amounts, partly to feed his drug addiction.”
The prosecutor had to wait for the value of those thefts to rack up before their office was able to do anything, Ho said.
“If I had the ability with Proposition 36 and the tools, I would have been able to require treatment … much earlier, after the third or fourth offense,” Ho said. “Instead, I had to wait until he had committed many more offenses so I could combine it together.”
A spokesperson for the Sacramento DA’s office was not able to immediately provide further details on the case Ho referenced.
Prop. 36 could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to in additional prison and treatment costs, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
It’s one reason Newsom and many Democrats in the legislature oppose Prop. 36. Earlier this week lawmakers approved a package of 10 bills aimed at reducing retail theft, in part as a response to the ballot initiative.
The proposition, Newsom said last month, “increases the size of our prison population by tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, over the next decade at a profound cost to the taxpayers. And I don’t think an improvement of public safety.”
Ho, Singh-Allen and Mahan said they will help fund the Prop. 36 support campaign with a new ballot measure committee, though they did not specify how much money they would spend.
They said funds from Proposition 1 – approved by voters earlier this year – could build out behavioral health treatment slots for people convicted under the new “treatment-mandated felony” classification.
The local leaders argued Prop. 36 would also help protect small businesses.
“These are more than just businesses, they are the dreams and the livelihoods of thousands and thousands of families throughout California,” Singh-Allen said. The Elk Grove mayor is also president of a trade group that advocates for gas station and convenience stores.
“Let’s show them that we will protect their businesses by bringing back simple, simple, common sense when it comes to safety. Retail thefts and those participating In retail theft gangs must carry consequences,” she said.
“Even without these burglaries, it’s very difficult to sustain a business in this competitive market,” said AZ Chaudhary, a developer who owns multiple gas stations and liquor stores in the Sacramento area.
He said the lack of accountability for thieves hurts businesses and entire communities.
“The South Sacramento area … is not being developed because the sales taxes are not being collected because no business can be sustainable there,” Chaudhary said. “So for that, we need this insanity to go away and every burglar, no matter who it is, needs to be brought under the law.”
Asked about opposition to the measure from Newsom and Speaker Robert Rivas, Mayor Mahan said the issue has “become needlessly politicized.”
“As local elected officials serving in non-partisan offices, I think it’s critically important that we represent our communities, which are demanding change,” he said. “They see the unintended consequences of Prop. 47. And Prop. 36 is tailored to address those gaps.”
“It may be controversial (at the state Capitol) in Sacramento, but it isn’t at the local level,” Mahan said.
This story was originally published August 14, 2024 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Democrats are choosing sides in California’s crime and punishment fight over Prop. 36."
