It looks like we might have a chance to cut back on some crime, thanks to a ballot measure in November.
“According to the initiative, it would do three things:
- The measure would hold repeat offenders accountable for the safety of our communities, rather than putting them back on the streets.
- The measure would define fentanyl as a hard drug, hold individuals convicted of trafficking fentanyl accountable, and grant judges greater discretion in sentencing drug traffickers.
- The measure would provide critical mental health, drug treatment services, and job training within the justice system for people who are homeless and suffering from mental illness or struggling with substance abuse.
As long as we have No Cash bail, continue to import terrorists and criminals from foreign nations—130,000 illegal aliens have been put on the streets of San Diego since October—we will have a crime problem. We need judges to keep criminals behind bars, not feel sympathy for them and allow them out sooner. Newsom took tens of thousands of criminals and ended their sentences early—putting more criminals on the streets. That has to stop.
The November ballot measure is an important step, but a very small one.
‘Fix Prop 47’ Initiative Receives Over 900,000 Signatures – Qualifies for November Ballot
‘Ever since the 2020 election, there has been an overall backlash on progressive policies in California’
By Evan Symon, California Globe, 4/18/24 https://californiaglobe.com/fl/fix-prop-47-initiative-receives-over-900000-signatures-qualifies-for-november-ballot/
A signature collection drive to qualify a ballot initiative to amend Proposition 47 ended on Thursday, qualifying The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act for the November ballot. Californians for Safer Communities Coalition announced that more than 900,000 signatures of the needed 546,651 were collected, and submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Passed in 2014 with a 59.6% 40.4% result, Prop. 47 recategorized some nonviolent offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. These crimes included, up to an amount of $950, shoplifting, grand theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, and fraud. In addition, most drug use offenses were made misdemeanors as well. While the measure was promoted as a way to reduce crowding in prisons and reallocate money for alternate to prison ways to prevent crime, crime rates soon exploded across the state. Criminals became savvy when shoplifting, making sure not to go above the $950 amount, with some even carrying calculators in stores to make sure they didn’t go over the felony limit.
Law enforcement agencies, even those in liberal areas, denounced the proposition. By 2016, retailers were reporting a 15% to 50% rise in shoplifting across the board. High crime rates continued on into the 2020’s, with Prop 47’s “get out of jail free card” reputation exacerbating related problems in cities such as San Francisco.
Lawmakers from both parties flooded the legislature with bills in an attempt to reign in Prop 47 over the years, including a reset bill in 2022 that would have lowered the felony amount from $950 to $400. However, liberal lawmakers, wanting to show that it could work on the long term, refused to make any alterations to it. An attempt at the ballot box was also made in 2020, with Prop. 20, hoping to toughen sentencing in criminal cases, lower the felony amount to $250, and reduce the number of prison inmates eligible for early parole. However, because of the George Floyd protests still a recent memory for many voters, Prop. 20 was crushed that November 61.7% to only 38.3% in favor.
This led the Californians for Safer Communities Coalition to begin a new proposition initiative in late 2023. The Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act was largely funded by small business owners and large retailers alike, all of whom were sick of the continuing losses in the state and having to pull out of some areas as a result.
According to the initiative, it would do three things:
- The measure would hold repeat offenders accountable for the safety of our communities, rather than putting them back on the streets.
- The measure would define fentanyl as a hard drug, hold individuals convicted of trafficking fentanyl accountable, and grant judges greater discretion in sentencing drug traffickers.
- The measure would provide critical mental health, drug treatment services, and job training within the justice system for people who are homeless and suffering from mental illness or struggling with substance abuse.
Support for, opposition against Prop 47
While some other controversial parts of Prop. 47, such as the felony amount, would not be touched in the initiative, supporters said that this proposition would be a start and would be most palatable to Californian voters as a whole.
“We’re here from both sides because Prop 47 simply isn’t working as intended,” said Yolo County DA Jeff Reisig a few months ago. “We’ve seen the retail theft crisis spiral out of control and fentanyl is a crisis fueling the highest death rate we’ve ever seen. This is a commonsense fix to have some accountability again. It’s very balanced, very humane, and focused on treatment.”
While there has been opposition from some groups against the new proposition, the opposition has been weaker compared to previous attempts. In fact, law enforcement support has been very high, with many groups opposing Prop. 20 in 2020 now not taking a side.
Signature collection took place in the last several months, with experts saying that around 750,000 or 800,000 signatures would be needed for it to pass. While 546,651 signatures were needed to be collected by April 23rd, a few thousand buffer votes were needed in case of duplicate signatures, invalid voters, and bad signatures.
However, the group announced that over 900,000 votes had been collected, all but assured to be enough for the November ballot.
“So many Californians see Prop. 47 as a reason why things are so bad in the state right now,” said researcher David Lewis, who specializes on crime propositions in each individual state, to the Globe on Thursday. “They keep trying, and over the years, they’ve learned to start off with a more watered down version of what they want, before going into more meatier subjects. This prop they want, they’re focusing on issues that even those on the left have denounced. Plus, ever since the 2020 election, there has been an overall backlash on progressive policies in California. I mean, San Francisco got rid of their DA in a recall. So the time seems right now. They were closing in on a million signatures. That is a strong first message to anyone against this.”
The Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act proposal is expected to be verified soon by the state for the November 2024 ballot.
