California Democrats put their own crime proposition on the ballot

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Top California Democrats on Monday formally unveiled their own ballot measure that would change Proposition 47, the voter-passed law its critics say has fueled the state’s retail theft crisis.

The proposed ballot measure — almost certain to reach voters in a Legislature controlled by a supermajority of Democrats — would make what supporters call “targeted reforms” to Proposition 47. It would also go up against a citizen-initiated ballot question that, if passed, would repeal the controversial proposition.

Ten years ago, California voters passed Proposition 47 at the polls, reducing penalties for certain property crime and theft offenses. The citizen ballot measure would undo it while the Democrats’ measure would instead tweak it. Changes include new penalties for repeat offenders, focusing on serial shoplifters, increasing prosecutions against fentanyl dealers and heightening resources for drug treatment programs.

“With targeted reforms to Prop 47, this ballot measure is a critical step forward in our efforts to strengthen California’s public safety laws and provide law enforcement with additional tools to address the growing concerns of property crime and the fentanyl crisis,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “This balanced approach cracks down on crime and protects our communities — without reverting to ineffective and costly policies of the past.”

The Democrats’ ballot measure would complement a crime bill package working its way through the legislative process, supporters say. Those bills, mostly focused on retail theft and fentanyl, had bipartisan support until urgency and inoperability clauses were added.

Those clauses would have made the bills become law immediately after being signed by Newsom, and made the bills null and void if the citizen ballot measure overturning Proposition 47 passes. The clauses in some of the bills recently were removed.

The Democrats’ ballot initiative, carried through the Legislature in the form of Senate Bill 1381, stated that it would make any other ballot question that conflicts with it become null and void if it gets more “yes” votes than a conflicting question.

That sets up a battle between the citizen-initiated measure to repeal Proposition 47 and the legislative Democrats’ measure which seeks to change it.

Assembly Republicans opposed amending Senate Bill 1381 on Monday, though the vote passed 31 to 15. Only a majority of members present and voting were required to amend the bill. It’s expected to appear Tuesday morning in the Assembly Public Safety Committee, followed by the Assembly floor for a final vote late Wednesday.

“I hope you’re not going to do this, man,” said Assemblymember and Minority Leader James Gallagher on the Assembly floor.

The minority leader said he thinks the retail theft bill package will pass after the “poison pill” clauses were removed.

“But now we’ve got a poison pill proposition that they’re trying to push,” he told Courthouse News in a phone interview.

The crime bill package is a good step, Gallagher said, but it doesn’t touch on the aggregation of different thefts for prosecution or proper fentanyl crime reform.

Additionally, Democrats are putting the proposition on the November ballot as a special election, which means they only need a majority vote, not the typical two-thirds, to place an initiative on the ballot.

“Somebody has to say it — stop letting the governor do this to us,” Gallagher said in the Assembly.

State Senator and Minority Leader Brian Jones pointed on X, formerly Twitter, to recently released crime statistics for California.

“Under their ‘leadership,’ California has seen a significant rise in crime rates: violent crime up by over 15%, motor vehicle theft up by 29%, and aggravated assaults up by 31% since 2018,” Jones said, referring to the increase from 2018 to 2023.

Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire in a statement called the ballot proposition a “commonsense approach” that wouldn’t return the state to its harsh policies of the 1980s and 1990s.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas in the statement said Californians have told lawmakers that they don’t want a return to mass incarceration for minor offenses. He said the ballot measure and crime bill package would stop fentanyl traffickers and hold thieves accountable.

In a related move, a Senate committee voted Monday on a bill that will put two new initiatives on the November ballot. It also will punt Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13 to the November 2026 ballot.

Passing the Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, Assembly Bill 440 now proceeds to the Senate floor.

The bill is the vehicle to get the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, as well as the Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Schools and Local Community College Public Education Facilities Modernization, Repair, and Safety Bond Act of 2024 onto the November ballot. Both are bond measures.

The first would provide $10 billion to help areas sidestep and recover from wildfire, flood, drought and other climate-based incidents. Money would go toward safe drinking water, as well as investments in wildfire and forest resilience.

The second initiative also would generate $10 billion, with this funding going to modernizing facilities, repair and safety.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13 would require ballot measures seeking to increase a vote threshold for a future initiative to pass by the higher margin.