Exclusive report from Epoch Times, the Director of Outreach for Proposition 47 Amendment, Li Shaomin, announced that a proposal to replace California’s Proposition 47 has officially made it onto the ballot for November.
However, Governor Gavin Newsom is against the Proposition 47 Amendment and seeks to remove it from the November ballot. Li Shaomin urged people from all walks of life to email California senators and assembly members to oppose the poison pill provisions in order to maintain community safety and the voting rights of the people.
In 2014, California passed Proposition 47, which reduced offenses such as drug possession, petty theft, identity theft, receipt of stolen property, and check forgery to misdemeanors, while also raising the threshold for felony theft to $950. This move sparked a series of social issues and faced widespread opposition.
This year, Californians for Safer Communities Coalition proposed an amendment to Proposition 47, known as the “Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act” (Initiative 23-0017A1), and garnered support from over 910,000 voters.
On June 5th, Californians for Safer Communities Coalition announced that the signature verification rate for the new proposal had exceeded 80%.
Li Shaomin, the Director of Outreach for the Proposition 47 Amendment, stated that the California Democratic Party is attempting to strip voters of their voting rights and prevent comprehensive public safety reform within the state. They plan to include nullification clauses in 14 public safety bills to ensure that if the Proposition 47 Amendment is approved by voters, these 14 bills (including retail theft bills) will all be invalidated. Li Shaomin referred to these nullification clauses as “poison pill provisions”.
He believes that this approach by the Democratic Party is a blatant threat to Californians for Safer Communities Coalition, attempting to force the coalition to retract their new measures and remove them from the ballot. He said, “If we don’t withdraw the measures, the California Attorney General will rewrite the introduction to the measures, possibly including language like ‘If this measure passes, it will render 14 public safety laws in California ineffective or weaken California’s crime-fighting efforts’.”
Li Shaomin urged California lawmakers to reject the inclusion of poison pill provisions in the 14 public safety bills. “It is clear that these provisions are purely political and aimed at obstructing the imminent qualification of the Proposition 47 Amendment onto the ballot.”
Some Democrats claim that nullification clauses can address “conflicts and inconsistencies in policy advancement”. However, Li Shaomin believes that this assertion is false, as the new measures do not conflict with any legislation in the legislative public safety agenda.
Li Shaomin said, “We ask everyone to join us in demanding that California politicians do not play political games on public safety issues and vote against the poison pill amendment.” He encouraged every Californian to stand up for public safety actions.
If the 14 bills amendments pass the public safety committees in both chambers, they will proceed to full floor votes in the Senate and Assembly. Only if more than two-thirds of the members in both Senate and Assembly agree, the nullification clauses will take effect.
Li Shaomin noted that many moderate Democrats do not support the proliferation of drugs and violent crime, so we have a good chance of stopping the poison pill provisions.
He urged the public to immediately write to the following moderate Senators and Assembly Members, asking them to vote against the poison pill amendments in the 14 public safety bills. He emphasized that we must stop the poison pill amendments, otherwise the over 910,000 signature supports obtained earlier might go to waste.
◎ Senators’ email addresses:
◎ Assembly Members’ email addresses: