California’s rampant crime issue has caught the attention of voters across party lines. Despite the disagreement between the governor and Democratic leaders, a statewide initiative to amend California’s “Proposition 47” has been confirmed to appear on the ballot in the November elections, giving voters the opportunity to once again make choices on community safety issues.
Last Friday (June 28th), the “Californians for Safer Communities Coalition” announced in downtown Los Angeles that the statewide initiative “The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act” had successfully secured a spot on this year’s ballot with the support of over 900,000 voters. This was confirmed by the list published on the California Secretary of State’s website.
The three major points of the initiative referendum are: anyone arrested for theft three times, regardless of the amount stolen, will be considered a felony; strengthened penalties for drug traffickers, especially fentanyl dealers, to further combat drug addiction and homelessness; mandatory drug rehabilitation for anyone found in possession of opioids, cocaine, and other hard drugs, or face felony charges.
These key points primarily target the amendments to the current provisions of California’s Proposition 47. Since its passage in 2014, Proposition 47 classified certain serious crimes such as drug possession, theft, shoplifting, and check forgery as misdemeanors, while raising the threshold for felony theft charges from $450 to $950.
After years of implementing laws that exempted theft under $950 from incarceration, leaders of both parties in California, law enforcement and judicial bodies, community leaders, voters, and thousands of businesses believe that Proposition 47 has posed threats to individual safety and the healthy development of enterprises.
“Now is the time to address California’s rampant retail theft, fentanyl drug epidemic, and increasingly severe homelessness crisis,” said the “Californians for Safer Communities Coalition,” urging voters to actively vote in November to support the initiative referendum to “reduce homelessness, drug addiction, and theft,” and rectify the downsides brought by Proposition 47 amendments.
During the press conference on Friday, numerous business owners and drug victims also called on all sectors to support this referendum initiative.
7-11 franchisee Shehbaz Singh Mattu told reporters, “What is the current law (Proposition 47)? There is no punishment for stealing $950 worth of goods from any store, from major department stores like Macy’s to small retail stores like 7-11. Unless there are actual consequences, businesses cannot survive. The police can’t help us; they want to, but their hands are tied (by the law).”
However, the inclusion of the “reduce homelessness, drug addiction, and theft” initiative referendum on the November ballot is not the outcome Governor Newsom and some Democrats hoped for.
On June 7th, Newsom confirmed to the media that he and Democratic leaders in the State Assembly were negotiating to remove the initiative to amend Proposition 47 from the November ballot. They lean towards promoting a comprehensive public safety package, believing these measures are more flexible in addressing crimes like retail theft.
They unveiled 14 public safety bills and believed it unnecessary to include the initiative to amend Proposition 47 on the ballot. Many of these bills contained “poison pill clauses,” meaning if the initiative to amend Proposition 47 passed, these 14 bills (including the retail theft bill) would all be voided, considered as a “poison pill.”
Those supporting the initiative hope to empower all voters to make decisions on laws that affect their daily lives.
Pamela Smith, founder of the Greek Mothers in Support group, said, “I lost my son Jackson on July 3, 2016, at the age of 22 due to a fentanyl overdose, yet the drug dealers were not held accountable, they were not punished, and they escaped murder charges. This situation needs to change.”
The “Californians for Safer Communities Coalition” dispatched a memorandum on Monday to California legislative members and other related parties. The memorandum noted that since the initiative referendum to amend Proposition 47 became eligible for inclusion on the ballot, the Speaker of the California State Assembly and the Governor’s Chief of Staff have attempted to communicate with the coalition, hoping the coalition would voluntarily withdraw the referendum.
The memorandum detailed a series of events, including the coalition’s responses to the government’s meeting proposals.
The memorandum stated, “The Governor’s staff made it clear they do not want any reform content to be included on the 2024 ballot, they are willing to consider such content in 2026.” However, the coalition believes that the current public safety situation needs urgent addressing and should not be a bargaining chip for politicians to play political games.
As no consensus was reached between the two sides, after the “reduce homelessness, drug addiction, and theft” initiative referendum officially made it to the ballot, Newsom and state legislative leaders swiftly announced a proposed voting measure similar to it.
In a press release on Monday, the Governor’s office stated, “The Governor and legislative leaders will introduce a voting measure to target reforms specific to Proposition 47. If approved by voters, this measure will combat property crimes with new penalties for habitual offenders, provide more tools for prosecuting and punishing fentanyl dealers, and increase opportunities for drug rehabilitation.”
The press release further explained, “As a supplement to this proposed voting measure, the Legislature is prepared to pass a comprehensive bipartisan package to further combat property crimes.”
In response to the government’s action, the “Californians for Safer Communities Coalition” remarked that the Governor and legislative leaders were trying to use all legislative means and power leverage, for reasons unknown, to prevent the “reduce homelessness, drug addiction, and theft” initiative referendum.
Gregory D. Totten, CEO of the California District Attorneys Association, told reporters, “It must be made clear, their initiative has nothing to do with it, it is a useless initiative, but it will derail our efforts… Its purpose is to confuse the voters.”
“Our plan is very simple, it is to communicate with voters and ensure that everyone chooses initiatives supported by the public, not initiatives proposed by politicians,” he said.
Since the government’s proposed voting measure appears strikingly similar to the qualified initiative referendum for “reduce homelessness, drug addiction, and theft,” the “Californians for Safer Communities Coalition” released a complete side-by-side comparison.
According to the coalition, the government’s proposed initiative is fundamentally different from the qualified initiative referendum on the ballot. For example, the government’s proposed initiative is limited to convictions involving fentanyl-related crimes, while the “reduce homelessness, drug addiction, and theft” referendum strengthens convictions involving all types of drug crimes.
In a content comparison conducted by the coalition as of Monday afternoon, it was pointed out that the government’s proposed initiative includes a “poison pill clause” to “repeal” certain terms of the qualified initiative referendum. Additionally, the government’s initiative grants habitual thieves and some felons a “three-year cleansing protection period”; for example, a convict sentenced for robbery in 2018 who paroles in 2023, if they continue to commit crimes after their release, those theft crimes committed after 2023 will not be subject to the constraints of Penal Code section 666.1 and cannot accumulate to make them habitual offenders.