California’s anti-crime ballot measure garners bipartisan support

In Vista, Calif., homeless individuals living on the streets have each received an average of 20 offers of shelter from outreach workers so far this year, according to Mayor John Franklin. The Southern California city’s January point in time count recorded 271 out of 98,000 residents as homeless. Of those, roughly 170 live on the streets.

Homeless individuals decline shelter 94 percent of the time, Franklin said, despite the city opening a new shelter in March that provides three meals a day, allows pets, and in some cases provides individual rooms. “We’ve tried to solve all the barriers to shelter entry, but still, the problem persists,” said Franklin.

Walking with deputies and social workers through encampments, Franklin has encountered individuals suffering from drug-induced psychosis who aren’t able to communicate clearly. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people living on the streets, and I see the impact that drugs are having on them, depriving them of the ability to say yes,” he said.

Franklin believes Proposition 36, an anti-crime measure that will appear on the California ballot in November, would give local officials the tools they need to move more people into shelter and addiction treatment. The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act aims to reform a decade-old ballot measure that lowered penalties for shoplifting and possessing hard drugs. Proponents of Proposition 36 argue the measure—which has garnered broad bipartisan support—puts teeth back into the law, while the act’s opponents argue it will reverse essential criminal justice reforms and say authorities should enforce laws already on the books.

In 2014, 58 percent of California voters approved Proposition 47, a measure aimed at reducing prison overcrowding by reclassifying some felonies as misdemeanors, including simple drug possession and petty theft under $950. The relaxed penalties did not apply to registered sex offenders or individuals with prior convictions.

Proposition 47 did ease the strain on the state’s jails and prisons, saving taxpayers nearly $1 billion in corrections expenses. The measure diverted much of those savings to reentry, rehabilitation, and housing programs working to keep people from entering the criminal justice system in the first place.

But critics of the measures say it had other, unintended consequences. Californians for Safer Communities, the group that proposed Proposition 36, noted homelessness has skyrocketed 51 percent in the 10 years since voters approved the measure. California is home to 30 percent of the nation’s homeless, including half of all unsheltered people living on the streets.

Many of these individuals end up homeless due to drug addiction. Ron Brooks, a former assistant chief of the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement—an agency within the California Department of Justice— told WORLD last fall that Proposition 47 effectively eliminated drug courts, which use the threat of significant jail time to compel addicts into treatment.

Organized retail theft and “smash and grab” heists also surged, costing retail chains millions and forcing some inner-city businesses to close altogether. Under Proposition 47, repeat offenders who steal less than $950 do not accumulate a felony charge, and municipal officials told WORLD the misdemeanor charges amount to little more than a slap on the wrist.

“It’s often just a citation,” San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan explained. “They’re just ignored because everybody knows there is no teeth to it.” Individuals charged with misdemeanors routinely fail to appear in court, but even that doesn’t escalate the original charge to a felony. This casual attitude toward theft has fueled the uptick in drug use, the authors of Proposition 36 noted, since hard drug users often sell the proceeds of their shoplifting spree to obtain their next high.

Under Proposition 36, the first two times a person steals less than $950 worth of merchandise, authorities will only charge them with a misdemeanor. But if a person steals a third time, they will be charged with a felony. “Then you know that you’re dealing with more of a habitual repeat offender,” Stephan said. “You’re no longer dealing with somebody who just made a mistake.” Prosecutors may also bring felony charges at any time if the sum total of a person’s stolen items in multiple, unrelated thefts exceeds $950.

Walmart, the measure’s largest contributor, has spent $3.58 million in support of Proposition 36, closely followed by large retail companies Target and Home Depot.

The measure creates what’s called a “treatment-mandated felony” for offenders charged with possessing hard drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine. That means prosecutors may bring felony charges on the third drug possession offense, but if the individual completes a court-ordered treatment program, the court will wipe the conviction from their record and connect the individual with job training and shelter if needed.

However, if the individual refuses treatment, they will receive jail time. On the fourth offense, a judge can opt to send the offender to state prison. “It introduces what prosecutors and counselors and drug addiction specialists see as a huge gap,” Stephan said. “The incentive to engage in treatment.”

Proposition 36 also warns convicted drug traffickers that they will be charged with murder if they continue to deal and someone dies as a result, and it allows judges to sentence individuals dealing large amounts of drugs to state prison.

Erik Weigand is a city councilmember for Newport Beach, Calif, a coastal city known for its ocean views and a sprawling shopping mall called Fashion Island, a tourist magnet. But Weigand said some of these visitors frequent the area to steal. “It’s kind of been chaos,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot more criminal activity.”

In July, three men killed a 68-year-old tourist visiting Newport Beach from New Zealand during a robbery attempt. A few weeks later, at least one shot was fired in the mall when three suspects in ski masks robbed two men.

In September, the Newport Beach City Council unanimously endorsed Proposition 36. Both the Democratic and Republican candidates running to represent the city’s congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives have thrown their support behind the measure. They’re two of many Californians across the political spectrum who say they favor the measure.

According to a September survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, 7 in 10 likely California voters approve of Proposition 36, including 85 percent of Republicans, 73 percent of independents, and 63 percent of Democrats. Survey responders also told the nonpartisan think tank that the outcome of Proposition 36 is more important than other ballot measures. “We’re also seeing majority support across age, demographic and regions of the state at this point,” said Mark Baldassare, the institute’s Statewide Survey director.

Baldassare noted that support may change as the election draws closer and more well-known political figures endorse or oppose the measure. Vice President Kamala Harris, California’s former attorney general, hasn’t yet weighed in on Proposition 36. Neither has Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is running for U.S. Senate. Unlike candidate elections, voters are quicker to change their vote when it comes to ballot measures, and if a voter is unsure, their default is to vote no, Baldassare said.

Some California Democrats are at odds over the measure. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, both Democrats, support Proposition 36. But California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom came out against it, arguing that a recent slew of anti-crime legislation will give law enforcement needed tools without reversing pivotal criminal justice reforms. The California District Attorneys Association says Newsom’s alternative legislation does not go far enough.

Will Matthews is a spokesman for Californians for Safety and Justice, an organization that advocates for public safety and the victims of crime. He warned Proposition 36 will divert state funding from affordable housing, mental healthcare, and drug treatment programs that prevent crimes from being committed in the first place. “I believe that we all deserve safety in our communities,” Matthews said. “And I think the question is, how do we go about achieving that safety most effectively?”

California’s legislative analyst’s office estimates the measure will increase the state’s prison population and the state courts’ workload since felonies take longer to resolve than misdemeanors, costing California several tens of millions, possibly hundreds of millions, of dollars every year. Local criminal justice costs would likely also be in the tens of millions since more people will spend time behind bars in local jails and the new category of treatment-mandated felonies will add to local behavioral health agencies’ workload.

Still, Summer Stephan, the San Diego district attorney, pointed out that while Proposition 47 has saved the state money by sending less people to jail, in many cases those savings haven’t been used for their intended purpose, since the law doesn’t compel people to seek treatment.

Cycles of crime are expensive too. “We’re kind of spinning our wheels with no real change. That is an unacceptable cost,” Stephan said. “We know that when you interrupt that cycle, you can actually change somebody’s course of their life.”

Matthews with Californians for Safety and Justice acknowledged the state is failing to hold law breakers accountable, but he argued law enforcement officials already have the tools they need and could be making more arrests. Last year, California Department of Justice data show that police only arrested a suspect in 7.8 percent of all property crimes in 2023.

But while technically law enforcement could hold people in jail for up to a year for most misdemeanors, Franklin, the mayor of Vista, told WORLD that’s not how Proposition 47 plays out on the ground. Vista is located in San Diego County, where, for instance, the sheriff department won’t arrest people who fail to appear in court after they are issued a citation, Franklin said.

When voters passed Proposition 47, they sent a message to law enforcement—and law enforcement listened, he argued. Proposition 36 is an updated message: “It’s very important that district attorneys and sheriffs and mayors and police officers throughout the state get a handwritten letter from the voting public that says, ‘You know what? Stealing should be illegal again,” Franklin said.

For individuals languishing on the street, unwilling to seek treatment, he believes the measure is essential.

“Is jail the right place for people to wind up? Nope, it absolutely is not where we want to send people. But I need to have the option for jail on the table,” Franklin said. “We have got to solve this problem for the health and safety of the people living outside.”