California Governor Gavin Newsom and top Democrats have decided to abandon their plan to include a measure on the November ballot that would reform Proposition 47, a landmark criminal justice bill passed in 2014. This decision came after a weekend of intense discussions and a tight deadline that ultimately proved insurmountable.
Proposition 47, which reclassified certain theft and drug possession felonies as misdemeanors, has been a point of contention for years. Over the weekend, California Democrats had outlined a proposal to ask voters to approve significant reforms to the proposition. However, on Tuesday, they announced that they would not be able to meet the Wednesday deadline to finalize the measure’s inclusion on the ballot.
Governor Newsom cited the tight schedule as the primary reason for withdrawing the proposal. “We are unable to meet the ballot deadline to secure necessary amendments to ensure this measure’s success, and we will be withdrawing it from consideration,” Newsom said in a statement.
The Democrats’ proposal was a response to a competing ballot measure called “the homelessness, drug addiction, and theft reduction act,” which was proposed in September and officially made it to the ballot on June 28. This measure aims to undo key components of Prop 47 by increasing penalties for a third theft offense and creating a new class of offense called “treatment-mandated felony” for those in possession of hard drugs like cocaine, meth, and fentanyl.
The proposal had garnered support from district attorneys, business leaders, and law enforcement, who argued that Prop 47 had left officers and prosecutors unable to effectively deal with lower-level theft and drug offenses. Proponents, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed and several district attorneys, believed it would help combat retail theft and address the growing homelessness and addiction crisis.
However, detractors argued that the measure would do little to address the complex issues facing the state and would instead increase the number of incarcerated individuals, costing the state millions of dollars that were saved and redirected to local re-entry, mental health, and drug treatment programs through Prop 47.
Kent Mendoza, associate director of advocacy and community organizing for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, emphasized the importance of Prop 47. “It’s one of those monumental pieces of legislation, and it got us over the hill for something we’ve been fighting for for so long,” Mendoza said. “It gives counties an opportunity to be bold and approach these things differently. This is what allows us to maybe save 10 people who wouldn’t have this support.”
Newsom and many Democrats have been vocal opponents of the coalition’s proposal, arguing that undoing Prop 47 was a misguided and ineffective approach to tackling retail theft. Instead, they proposed a set of legislative reforms. “I don’t think there’s a need to have it on the ballot. Why have something on the ballot that doesn’t actually achieve the goals that are intended?” Newsom said in June. “Why do something that can’t be done legislatively with more flexibility? I think it’s a better approach to governing.”
The governor and lawmakers attempted to negotiate with the coalition to drop their initiative. When those negotiations failed, they announced their own ballot initiative over the weekend. Their measure, intended to be called Prop 2, proposed harsher punishments for repeat thieves if their convictions occurred within three years.
Greg Totten, co-chair of Californians for Safer Communities, the primary group backing the ballot measure to gut Prop 47, expressed satisfaction with Newsom’s decision to withdraw his counter-legislation. “We are pleased The Governor and Legislature have dropped their countermeasure and welcome them to join our campaign to responsibly amend Prop 47 to deal with retail theft, the fentanyl crisis, and homelessness,” Totten said in a statement.
As November approaches and the fate of Prop 47 rests in the hands of voters, Mendoza and his group plan to launch education campaigns to shift public perceptions about the causes of crime and the best ways to prevent recidivism. “It’s probably gonna be a communications strategy: sharing success stories,” Mendoza said. “Uplifting the success of people who have been in prison to show that people can do good. We might do town halls in communities that need more education, in communities who may not see these things the way we tend to say we see it.”
The decision to abandon the ballot measure marks the end of a half-year of political maneuvering on criminal justice policy. Democrats had been responding to a tough-on-crime initiative backed by Republicans, district attorneys, and major retail stores. Newsom had hoped to offer voters an alternative measure that would address concerns about theft and fentanyl without being as punitive as the prosecutors’ measure.
The measure backed by Newsom and legislative leaders aimed to address repeat shoplifting by making the third petty-theft-related offense over a three-year period eligible for a three-year jail sentence. In cases involving multiple thefts, the offenses could be prosecuted as a felony if the total value of stolen goods exceeded $950. It also proposed stiffer penalties for drug dealers who sold fentanyl without the buyer’s knowledge.
Newsom touted the plan as “targeted reforms to Prop. 47” that reflected a “balanced approach.” He said it would “put public safety first without reverting to outdated and ineffective policies of decades past.” However, the measure fundamentally sought to do something that Newsom and legislative leaders had said for months they did not want to do—ask voters to change Proposition 47, a pillar of the state’s progressive criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing incarceration.
The collapse of the measure marked a rare case of Democratic lawmakers standing up to the governor on one of his priorities. It also highlighted a wobbly strategy by two inexperienced legislative leaders, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate leader Mike McGuire, who had both made high-profile efforts to address theft through legislation.
Newsom’s measure struggled to gain support, facing opposition from progressive Democrats who oppose stiffer criminal penalties and want to avoid filling jails, as well as from moderate Democrats who value support from sheriffs and district attorneys backing the more conservative measure. The Legislature’s Black caucus also opposed the measure, with concerns that it could disproportionately affect Black Californians.
The whole saga marked a significant win for the California District Attorneys Association, which has opposed Proposition 47 for many years and will now see its measure on the November ballot without any competing proposals. “We are pleased the Governor and Legislature have dropped their countermeasure and welcome them to join our campaign to responsibly amend Prop 47 to deal with retail theft, the fentanyl crisis, and homelessness,” said Greg Totten, CEO of the California District Attorneys Association.
Newsom said he planned to “soon” sign a package of anti-crime bills, calling them “the most significant reform in decades.”
Source: The Guardian, Los Angeles Times
