A group of progressive state lawmakers rallied Monday in opposition to Proposition 36. They called the ballot measure a “costly” crime reform that they say would lead to over-policing of underserved communities and incarcerating Californians at rates similar to the 1980s War on Drugs.
“For decades, Californians have called for real safety and for real solutions to the root causes that lead to problems like petty crime and drug abuse,” State Assemblyman Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) said at a press conference at the State Capitol on Monday morning. “Because we know where these problems happen: in communities where schools are underfunded, where food infrastructure is underfunded, where public health infrastructure is underserved, where rent is too high.”
Lawmakers credit Proposition 47, a decade-old ballot measure that changed those crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, with cutting the state's prison population by nearly half. They worry that Proposition 36, the ballot measure voters will decide in November, risks undoing all the progress California has made.
Bryan, the vice chair-elect of the Legislative Black Caucus, said Proposition 36 is a reminder of the “bipartisan failure” that has sent thousands of Black and brown people to prison over the past few decades for minor, nonviolent drug and property crimes.
“This is not a war on poverty. That's the war we should be fighting,” Bryan continued. “This is a war on the poor.”
In recent months, California's Democratic caucus has been divided over how to address concerns about rising property theft and drug abuse across the state.
Last week, some Democrats supported Proposition 36, which calls for group treatment for individuals who repeatedly abuse drugs and steal.
“People are dying who didn't need to die, businesses are closing who didn't need to close. There is a solution, and that solution is treatment,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said at a press conference last week.
Governor Gavin Newsom, who has voiced opposition to Proposition 36, has signed a series of crime bills into law targeting organized retail theft and the illegal resale of stolen goods.
Several members of the Legislative Black Caucus opposed some of these bills, calling them too punitive and unnecessary.
Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), a member of the Progressive Caucus and an ardent advocate for criminal justice reform, supports the bill and has publicly opposed the ballot measure.
“We've certainly seen a bit of an uptick in crime since the pandemic,” Skinner said. Slight increase Property crime since 2020 is at its lowest level in decades. “It's been completely disruptive to all of us. Of course there's been disruption. What do we see now? Less crime, less addiction, less drug use. Now is not the time for that.”
Proposition 36 would impose tougher penalties for repeat thefts and crimes involving the deadly drug fentanyl. Specifically, someone who commits theft a third time could be charged with a misdemeanor or felony, regardless of the value of the goods stolen. The bill also would allow judges to sentence convicted drug traffickers who trafficked large quantities of hard drugs, including fentanyl, or possessed a firearm while trafficking drugs to state prison instead of county jail.
The ballot measure is expected to cost tens or hundreds of millions of dollars per year, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analysis Service. A majority of California voters (56%) say they support Proposition 36, with support strongest among conservative and moderate voters, according to a new poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of Government in partnership with The New York Times.
Skinner, Bryan and other progressive Democrats said at a press conference Monday that the prosecutor-sponsored ballot measure is an expensive solution to a problem that is already remedying itself. Instead, they call for allocating state funds to education and community programs to reduce the likelihood of people ending up in prison.
of Fundraising Committee The anti-Prop 36 campaign has already raised $570,000 since April. The largest individual donor is Stacey Shusterman, a major Democratic donor, philanthropist and liberal oil heir from Oklahoma, who has given $325,000. A separate fundraising committee in support of Prop 36 has raised $9.71 million since October, mostly with contributions from big-box retailers.
Monday's rally was also attended by a variety of criminal justice reform advocacy groups, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Californians for Safety and Justice, one of the main promoters of Proposition 47, which passed overwhelmingly in 2014.
