On Friday morning, Governor Gavin Newsom signed ten bills designed to crack down on retail crime — a step he hopes will provide effective new tools to tackle shoplifting and dissuade voters from approving a tougher-on-crime ballot initiate in November.
As Newsom and state legislators were celebrating their legislative accomplishments , a new poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that 56% of Californians support the harsher Prop. 36.
If passed, the ballot initiative would reinstate many felony offenses for shoplifting and drug use crimes, effectively rolling back most of the criminal justice reforms passed by voters under Prop. 47 in 2014. It would also increase the rate of court-mandated drug rehabilitation programs for people charged with these felony offenses.
The ten-bill package signed by Newsom is more targeted in scope. It addresses specific retail crime problems as opposed to increasing penalties.
Changes in the final package include allowing stricter penalties for repeat shoplifting, making the California Highway Patrol property crimes task force permanent, and creating new crime categories for arson in a store and breaking into a car with intent to steal.
On Friday morning Newsom came out swinging against the ballot measure, saying, “This initiative has nothing to do with retail theft, this (package of bills) has everything to do with retail theft.”
He argued, “Look at the independent legislative analyst, who said it will cost billions and billions of dollars. Not one dollar is attached to Prop 36.”
“That initiative is about going back to the 1980s, the war on drugs,” Newsom said. “It’s about mass incarceration.”
One of Newsom’s key critiques about Prop. 36 is that is does not come with any funding to support increased incarceration rates or enrollment in drug rehabilitation programs.
But a bipartisan group of legislators say the retail theft bill package signed by Newsom today does not go far enough in addressing the state’s drug addiction and shoplifting crisis.
They argue that only the reforms included in Proposition 36 will restore the tools needed to get more Californians into treatment.
Earlier this week a coalition of local elected officials led by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho and Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen announced the formation of a new committee in support of Proposition 36.
“Turning a blind eye to the crisis of addiction and desperation driving this crime wave is not compassionate, progressive or helpful to our local economy,” said Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen in a statement on Thursday.
He added, “Prop. 36 makes sure that repeat offenders are held accountable in a way that protects consumers and small businesses, while getting real help to the people who need it most.”
The ballot measure also has the support of San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
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