California lawmakers are expected this week to approve a voter initiative for the November ballot to crack down on retail theft and fentanyl dealers, an effort designed to counter tougher crime measures pushed by county district attorneys.

The plan was announced after days of tense negotiations between Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration and Democratic legislative leaders. Details of the effort were made public in a bill released Sunday night.

The measure would revise Proposition 47, a controversial criminal justice reform bill approved by California voters a decade ago that changed some low-level drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and invested in drug and mental health treatment.

The proposal would mark an abrupt political shift for Governor Newsom, who earlier this year opposed efforts to change Proposition 47 through the ballot process, arguing that needed reforms could be addressed through legislation.

The bill comes just weeks after a crime-fighting plan proposed by county district attorneys was placed on the November ballot. Newsom criticized the prosecutor-led plan as a regressive effort that could return California to the days of mass incarceration in the 1990s.

The latest ballot measure addresses repeat shoplifting by making a third misdemeanor within a three-year period punishable by three years in prison. Multiple thefts can be charged as a felony if the total amount stolen exceeds $950.

The proposition would also impose tougher penalties on dealers who knowingly mix fentanyl with other drugs without informing buyers. The bill would require convicted fentanyl dealers to warn judges about the deadly risks associated with distributing the drug, making it easier for prosecutors to charge dealers with murder in the event of a death. The proposition would also increase resources for drug treatment and mental health programs.

If the bill is approved by the Democratic-led Legislature this week, as it is expected to be, California voters will see two competing anti-crime measures on the ballot in November: the measure backed by the governor and a separate “Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Property Reduction Act” that has strong support from some county district attorneys and crime-fighting groups.

The prosecutor's proposal would amend the law to make a third offense of theft a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison, regardless of the value of the item. The bill would also make possession of fentanyl a felony. Finally, the proposal would create a “treatment-mandated felony” for anyone arrested for drug possession three times.

California voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014 at a time when past tough-on-crime policies were criticized as ineffective and unjust and courts had found the state's overcrowded prison system unconstitutional.

Prior to the passage of the bill, theft was considered a felony if the value of the stolen goods was $450 or more, but Proposition 47 raised that threshold to $950. Critics have decried the change since it went into effect, saying the reduced penalties have led to an increase in thefts in California. Governor Newsom and other supporters of Proposition 47 said most other states, including Texas, have a higher threshold than California for a suspect to be charged with a felony.

Governor Newsom and the state legislature are planning to cut prison spending and move away from a criminal justice system that relies on incarceration. They argue that this prosecutor-led effort could lead to a surge in California's prison population as low-level drug and property offenders are sent back to state prison instead of serving their sentences for minor crimes.

The Legislature is also now considering a complementary package of bills that would give store owners the opportunity to apply for restraining orders against repeat offenders and give prosecutors better tools to prosecute auto theft and multiple larceny cases that occur in multiple counties.

The new voting bill proposal, unveiled Sunday, comes after weeks of behind-the-scenes discussions and contentious political maneuvering around both the crime bill and the voting bill, which have become intertwined during debate in the Legislature.

Most notably, Democrats unexpectedly inserted an amendment into the crime bill that would have rolled back parts of the law that previously had bipartisan support if voters approved a prosecutor-backed ballot initiative. The amendment was recently removed from the bill, but the criticism and distrust the maneuver generated remain.

“This was a brutal blow to its proponents,” said Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, one of the prosecutors who worked on the bill.

Since then, members of the Republican and Democratic caucuses and leaders of the prosecution-led coalition have been sparring in separate livestreamed news conferences over political maneuvering.

“You can't politicize public safety, and in the current climate, that's the wrong thing to do,” said Greg Totten, CEO of the California District Attorneys Association, which supports the prosecutor-led bill. “Frankly, we all came together to draft and approve the ballot measure because politicians in the Legislature ignored our concerns.”

Since then, the Democratic caucus has reportedly split, with lawmakers removing his name from a bipartisan policy proposal citing his heavy-handed tactics.