SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — A California prosecutor must currently prove that a vehicle was locked to convict someone of auto burglary. That can be difficult, according to state Senator Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat.
In some cases, drivers must testify in court about whether their car was locked. Sometimes they don’t remember. In other cases, especially in San Francisco, the burglarized vehicle was a rental and the driver has long since returned to their home.
Senate Bill 905, written by Wiener, would close what he called the “locked-door loophole,” on the books since 1947.
“We need to close that loophole,” Wiener told the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. “It makes no sense.”
The bill passed unanimously and now proceeds to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
If passed into law, a new crime would be made — unlawful entry of a vehicle. It would have no locked-door requirement. Instead, prosecutors would only need to prove forcible entry to secure a conviction. They could charge the crime as a misdemeanor or felony.
The sentence for a felony conviction ranges from 16 months, two years or three years.
Wiener's bill creates a new crime instead of expanding the criminal charge of second-degree burglary of a vehicle. This was done because a vehicle burglary conviction potentially could be used in court to invoke the death penalty, if a murder was involved.
That means the Legislature strongly suggests prosecutors shouldn't use the new law to add harsher penalties to someone’s criminal sentence.
Someone couldn’t be convicted of both burglary and unlawful entry of a vehicle.
Additionally, the bill creates another new crime — unlawfully possessing property gained by stealing from a vehicle. Prosecutors could use this charge against burglars who have over $950 worth of stolen items intended for sale, regardless of if they were taken in one or several thefts. They could charge the thief, middleman or seller.
“It sends the message, if you break into cars, you will be held responsible,” said Carl Nicita, a legislative affairs analyst with San Francisco.
The bill is sponsored by San Francisco Mayor London Breed. whose city has long dealt with auto break-ins. While officials have said the problem has lessened, it remains an issue.
This past August, San Francisco leaders announced employing new methods of catching auto burglars. Those methods included more patrols, plainclothes and bait-car operations, as well as investigations targeting organized crime rings.
At that time, auto burglaries had remained steady over the prior year. However, in December city leaders said they’d since seen a 50% drop in break-ins, when compared to the previous year.
Police have said they can see an immediate 10% drop in auto break-ins after catching only one crew, meaning the high-volume crime is orchestrated by only a few rings.
The bill is part of a larger effort the Senate has called the Safer California Plan, meant to address the state’s fentanyl crisis and stop retail theft along with community-based crime. The plan includes over a dozen bills that range from stopping the use and trafficking of the animal tranquilizer Xylazine to increasing penalties for retail thieves who use arson as a method to distract law enforcement during the crime.
That latter bill — Senate Bill 1242, written by state Senator Dave Min, an Irvine Democrat — also passed out of the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
A bill that didn’t make it out of committee on Tuesday was Senate Bill 1219. Written by state Senator Kelly Seyarto, a Murrieta Republican, it would have reinstated the crime of loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution.
The crime was eliminated effective Jan. 1, 2023, after a bill by Wiener passed the Legislature. A member of the Public Safety Committee, Wiener called the crime his bill eliminated “pernicious” law, as people were targeted because of how they wore their clothes or hair.
Seyarto said there’s a connection between prostitution and human trafficking. But his bill failed to get a motion and is now held in committee.
Two similar bills in the Assembly remain pending.
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