AP Calls CA Prop 36: Tougher Drug, Theft Penalties Approved By Voters

CALIFORNIA — California voters decided Tuesday that they want tougher penalties for drug and theft crimes, according to the Associated Press, which called Proposition 36 at 9 p.m.

"Anger over retail theft drives California voters to make certain shoplifting crimes felonies again," the Associated Press reported Tuesday night.

With 14,071 precincts (56.7 percent) reporting at 10:15 p.m., the yes votes were leading with 70.6 percent.

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Real-time results for Proposition 36

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Proponents said the initiative is necessary to close legal loopholes that have made it challenging for law enforcement to punish shoplifters and drug dealers. The measure will also help the state address the homelessness and drug crises, they said.

“It was clear to us in the last year that this is desperately needed for Californians,” said Anne Marie Schubert, co-chair of the coalition supporting the measure. “This is a resounding message that Californians are ready to have safer communities.”

Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said it will disproportionately imprison poor people and those with substance use issues rather than target ringleaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods for resale online. The initiative will also take away drug and mental health funding that comes from savings from incarcerating fewer people.

“Voters wanted solutions, but they were sold a false promise,” said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, which co-authored the 2014 law. “With this initiative passing and potentially threatening hundreds of millions of dollars to stabilize those programs, we’re going to be a lot worse off than we were before.”

Michelle Parris, director of the Vera Institute of Justice’s Vera California initiative, called the proposition's passing "a result of relentless scare tactics by corporate and right-wing special interests to exploit Californians’ fears about crime and mislead them."

"By increasing penalties for low-level offenses, Prop 36 will only fuel the revolving door of arrest, jail, and prison and exacerbate the homelessness and overdose crises," Parris said in a prepared statement Tuesday night.

Proposition 36 marks the latest pendulum swing in the Golden State's approach to mass incarceration and the War on Drugs, and will roll back some provisions of the controversial Proposition 47 passed a decade ago to reduce overcrowding in California's prison system.

Whereas Prop 47 reduced certain drug and theft crimes to misdemeanors, Prop 36 will make them felonies again, thereby increasing the sentences that go with them. Namely, fentanyl, possession and thefts under $950 will become felonies. In some cases, the shift will increase a defendant's jail sentence from a year in jail to as much as four years in prison.

Additionally, defendants with two prior theft convictions could face felony charges for subsequent theft arrests regardless of the value of the items stolen.

Proposition 36 also seeks to tackle mob and smash-and-grab retail theft by allowing for sentencing enhancements when two or more people commit the crime together or when they cause losses of $50,000 or more.

The measure will also make certain drug offenses treatment-mandated felonies, and people who plead to felony drug possession could be able to have their charges dismissed if they complete a drug treatment program.

Supporters of the measure argue that it will help tackle the scourge of fentanyl and other drugs while helping to reduce homelessness. They also believe it will begin to curb rampant retail crime and safety issues hurting the quality of life in the Golden State.

Opponents argue that it will return California to an expensive era of mass incarceration that disproportionately imprisons minorities and hurts communities. They also contend it will cost the state hundreds of millions annually while drying up funding for drug treatment programs, job placement, victims services and shelters.

In fact, the measure's fiscal impact outlined by the Legislative Analysts Office does estimate a hefty price tag for the state and counties.

The office forecast, "Increased state criminal justice costs, likely ranging from several tens of millions of dollars to the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually, primarily due to an increase in the prison population," and "increased local criminal justice costs, likely in the tens of millions of dollars annually, primarily due to county jail, community supervision, and court-mandated mental health and drug treatment workload."

The proposition's official supporters include the California Republican Party, Republican Congressman Ken Calvert, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a slew of bipartisan state legislators and retail giants including Target, Home Depot and Walmart.

Additionally, the measure has support from unions including the California District Attorneys Association, the California Police Chiefs Association, California Retailers Association, California State Sheriffs' Association and groups such as the California Chamber of Commerce and the California League of Cities.

"The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act will make targeted but impactful changes to our laws around fentanyl and help us tackle the chronic retail theft that hurts our retailers, our workers, and our cities," Breed said in endorsing the measure. "I fully support this measure and know it will make a meaningful difference for cities across California."

Joe Coto, President of United Latinos Action, said the measure would help communities of color.

“Retail theft disproportionately affects communities of color, exacerbating economic disparities and hindering progress," Coto said. "This initiative is about restoring commonsense accountability measures that will make our streets safer and stop the rampant theft that has plagued too many neighborhoods across California.”

The measure's opponents include the California Democratic Party, Gov. Gavin Newsom, more than a dozen Democratic state lawmakers, the ACLU of Northern and Southern California and the League of Women Voters of California. Unions opposing the measure include the California Nurses Association and the California Teachers Association.

"First, Prop 36 would reverse the state’s gains in reducing the dangerous, racially unequal, and unconstitutionally crowded prison population (since 2014, California’s prison population has dropped 28 percent with reduced racial disparities)," the Vera Institute of Justice said in a written statement about the measure. "Second, it would dry up funding for much-needed services, including employment assistance for those coming out of jail, victims’ services, and housing. Finally, it risks making California less safe, as programs funded by Prop 47 have reduced recidivism without increasing violent crime."

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state's prison population has fallen sharply to a 30-year low in 2023. After increasing nearly eightfold from 1977 to a peak of more than 173,000 prisoners in 2006, the state's prison population fell to nearly 94,200 in 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. That puts it on par with 1990 before a series of tough-on-crime laws such as the three-strikes law led to the explosive growth of the state's prison population.

"Prop. 36 takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration, it promotes a promise that can't be delivered," Newsom told ABC7. "I would ask those who support it, particularly mayors: Where are the treatment slots, where are the beds? Twenty-two counties don't have one residential treatment facility. Twenty-two counties don't have one. I mean, they're lying to you."

Polling this election season has shown fairly widespread support for Prop 36.

A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California released Sept. 18 showed 71 percent of likely voters support the initiative compared to 26 percent against. According to the poll, 85 percent of Republicans surveyed supported the measure followed by 63 percent of Democrats.

Fundraising in support of the measure also vastly outpaces the measure's opponents.
According to the June 30 campaign fiscal statements, Prop 36 supporters had raised $8.9 million and spent $8.8 million. Opponents raised $195,000 and spent $65,000.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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