California voters on Tuesday voted to move away from recent progressive policies that critics blame for a rise in illegality, imposing harsher penalties for repeat thefts and crimes related to fentanyl in November. Approved the ballot measure.

The Associated Press declared Prop. 36 a success about an hour after voting ended, indicating strong voter support for the measure.

Proposition 36 would make it a felony to steal goods of any value after committing two previous crimes, which could lead to lengthy prison terms or prison terms.

The ballot measure would allow a judge to send convicted drug dealers who trafficked large amounts of hard drugs, including fentanyl, or who possessed a gun during drug trafficking to state prison instead of county jail. It is also permitted to impose a sentence. It also plans to create a new crime category, “felony with mandatory treatment,” by giving some targeted drug offenders the option of treatment instead of jail time.

The bill would undo key parts of the 2014 ballot measure, Proposition 47, which the state Democratic Party led to end an era of ineffective crime enforcement that ballooned the state’s prison population to unconstitutional levels. It was passed by voters with an overwhelming majority at a time when the department was trying to overturn it.

Proposition 36 is expected to come at the state’s expense. billions of millions In dollars per year. Passage of this bill could eliminate approximately $100 million in annual savings directed to recidivism prevention programs.

Supporters of the bill spent $16.23 million. Early backers included Walmart, Home Depot, and Target. The California Republican Party also donated $1 million. Mayors from large cities such as San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego supported the measure, as did prosecutors and law enforcement leaders such as the California District Attorney’s Office. and the California Sheriff’s Office.

Opponents of the bill outpaced spending, raising just over $7.5 million. Those funders included criminal justice reform advocates Patti Quillin, Stacey Shusterman, Elizabeth Simmons and her husband Mark Heising, and Quinn Delaney. Unions representing health workers and teachers were also major contributors to the opposition.