Nicholas Michael Nelson was kicked out of his family's Oceanside home after coming out as gay at age 14 and struggled with homelessness and drug addiction for the next 20 years.

Nelson, who is non-binary and goes by the name “Poodle,” moved to San Francisco last year and started shoplifting to survive in a city that is expensive even for the wealthy.

“I wasn't ready to put up a sign yet,” Poodle said, referring to a slang term for a beggar. “It's humiliating.”

Though his struggle with fentanyl and other drugs continues, Poudre decided in December to stop stealing for good, because he now lives in a subsidized apartment and is no longer hungry.

Lawmakers have been working for a year on an ambitious bill to crack down on retail theft. They've made it clear they don't want to treat the poorest and most needy Californians as criminals for stealing food and other necessities, but they also want to make sure store owners and communities feel protected from these crimes. The poodles symbolize the complexity of the issue: They represent people who not only stole out of necessity, but also were part of organized theft rings.

The Democratic-led Legislature has passed a bipartisan, 13-bill anti-crime bill that will be sent to Governor Gavin Newsom for consideration. The bills would increase penalties for repeat theft offenders, give store owners the opportunity to apply for restraining orders against repeat offenders, and give prosecutors better tools to prosecute multi-county auto break-ins and multiple theft cases. If passed, the bills would take effect immediately.

Some Democrats are adamant about toughening penalties for those involved in organized theft, but are hesitant to vote for bills that could send indigent people to prison for stealing out of necessity.

“You're hungry! We all know what it's like when you're a little hungry,” said Rep. Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City), chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee. “When you're hungry and you're desperate, you make desperate decisions.”

Wilson said she understands the feeling of food insecurity as a child, and while desperation is no excuse for stealing, she believes the law should not forget to “care about people.”

“As a council member, it's like, 'OK, if I fix this, other kids won't go down the wrong path,'” she continued. “I know I'm helping someone.”

The Poodles spend their weekdays at the corner of Octavia and Page streets, near a freeway exit, clutching a cardboard sign that reads, “We don't want to steal. Anything helps.” They figure a few dollars a day from friendly pedestrians is better than nothing.

“I was tired of waking up every day and stealing,” Poodle told The Times. They said things were getting “out of control,” but agreed that a certain level of repeat offense would require prison time. “I just felt so uncomfortable. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I had a criminal record and had already served time in prison for petty theft. I fought so hard to get my freedom back, but I was so scared of it being taken away.”

The poodle spends its weekdays on the street corner where this sign is located.

(Lauren Elliott/The Times)

Democratic leaders in the state Legislature want to solve a retail theft problem that some criticize as overblown. Yet lawmakers have balked at passing bills that would hurt California's poorest and most marginalized residents. The bills they have pushed are aimed at exactly those kinds of people: poodles.

Magnus Lofstrom, director of criminal justice policy at the Public Policy Institute of California and author of a widely published study on the issue, understands the nuances of the issue.

“Part of [the problem] “This movement may be driven by people with issues of poverty, lack of opportunity, behavioral health issues, homelessness,” Lofstrom told the Times. “In my view, this is a symptom of a societal problem.”

In 2014, California voters passed Proposition 47, a ballot measure designed as part of California's effort to comply with a federal court order to reduce prison overcrowding. In the decade since, California has established itself as a leader in criminal justice reform, but with property crimes rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, many skeptics are blaming a decade-old law for the increase.

A prosecutor-led effort to potentially repeal parts of Proposition 47 has qualified to appear on the November ballot. Proposition 47 would reclassify some felony drug and theft offenses under $950 to misdemeanors. The measure would reduce the prison population and save the state more than $100 million a year. The money will help with funding It implements reentry and victim assistance programs throughout California.

Earlier this year, Newsom Proposed a blueprint He wanted the bill to crack down on organized retail theft, and he has repeatedly stressed his opposition to changing Proposition 47 through the statewide voter initiative process.

Lawmakers understand this task, and at least 27 bills have been introduced this year to combat organized retail theft, with 13 of those bills combined into two separate bills introduced by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and Senate President Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg).

During months of debate in various legislative committees, some Democrats told The Times they had stumbled across a bill that missed the point.

2023 State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Sacramento;

(Rich Pedroncelli/The Associated Press)

One bill is Make a felony The bill would have allowed anyone who solicits a minor to commit theft to be forced to do so. Democrats objected, calling it “too broad.” Supporters said the bill would only “criminalize young people” and “overcrowd prisons.” The bill was defeated by the Assembly's Public Safety Committee.

The other expands the definition of organized retail theft, making it a felony for anyone to conspire with others to commit an act of theft. Stealing baby formula and baby foodSome people resell the items on online marketplaces, but criminal justice reform advocates opposed the bill, saying raising children in California is expensive and questioning whether lawmakers really wanted to send parents to jail for trying to buy food for their babies. The bill was later withdrawn by its authors.

Last week, a public defender derided a bill that would allow prosecutors to prosecute multiple crimes across multiple counties and handle them in one court, arguing that the state needs to address the “root causes” of theft and invest in basic needs and housing.

“As a public defender, I know that theft is an act of desperation,” said Sujun Kim, a deputy public defender in San Francisco.

The fourth bill, introduced by Rep. Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), acknowledges the plight of many Californians who live in food deserts but is considered too punitive. Allow retailers to seek injunctions Repeat thieves can be fined, but when considering a claim, courts must consider “whether the retail establishment is the only place within one mile of a person's residence that sells food, medicine, or other necessities of life.”

State Assemblyman Juan Alaniz (R-Modesto), a former police officer and co-chair of the Assembly's Public Safety Committee, told The Times that communities are becoming retail deserts as businesses victimized by theft close or move out of town. Alaniz supports a ballot initiative to repeal provisions of Proposition 47, including making a third theft a felony, regardless of the amount.

“What's going to happen to the store owners? What's going to happen to their livelihoods? They depend on this for their livelihood,” Alaniz said. “It's time we start helping these small businesses and helping these families.”

For many years, the study People who are poor and food insecure have been shown to be more likely to commit certain crimes, such as theft, than those who are not.

“We're not going to lock people up for up to three years because they stole food or were poor or had hungry children,” Berman said. “It's important for the state to address retail theft, but we have to be honest with ourselves about why this is happening.”

Poudre eventually found the Homeless Youth Alliance, a nonprofit that serves young people in the Haight-Ashbury area, offering hot meals, harm reduction courses, and a safe community. The organization connected them with a caseworker who helped them get approved for a single-room housing program that provides free housing for people struggling to stay independent. Poudre now lives in the Tenderloin, and says it's the first home he's had since he was a teenager.

Now 34, Poodle says he's envisioning a whole new life in San Francisco. Though they still struggle with drug use, they're getting by by volunteering a few days a week.

“I feel like I have a job to do here.”