An effort aimed at the November ballot to toughen drug and theft penalties loosened nearly a decade ago by California’s Proposition 47 got a boost Thursday when the mayors of the Bay Area’s biggest cities signed on in support.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and San Francisco Mayor London Breed added their names to backers of the proposed November 2024 Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act ballot measure being pushed by law enforcement officials, retail and business organizations and crime-victim advocates.
The support from two of the Bay Area’s big city mayors is a dramatic acknowledgement that Californians are fed up with the growing image of runaway thefts and drug use in cities across the Golden State.
“Today I’m endorsing a critical new citizen’s initiative to keep what works in Prop 47 but fixes where it is failing our communities,” Mahan said.
Breed added that “in San Francisco, we are making progress on property crimes, but the challenges we are facing related to fentanyl and organized retail theft require real change to our state laws.”
California voters in November 2014 approved Proposition 47, pitched as “The Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act,” by nearly 60%. It was part of a wave of criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing costly prison overcrowding.
Prop 47 made drug possession a misdemeanor, raised the threshold for prosecuting shoplifting, grand theft and other property crimes as a felony from $400 to $950 in value stolen, and allowed resentencing for those already serving sentences under the tougher penalties.
The ballot measure drew support and opposition from across the political spectrum. Backers included then Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, then-San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, who is now Los Angeles D.A., Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, former San Jose and San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, the ACLU, Catholic bishops and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Critics included most law enforcement officials including then-Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, crime victim advocates and business organizations, but also late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The measure’s effect on increasing crime has been hotly debated. Defenders argue that crime and theft data don’t demonstrate a link, while critics argue the data are misleading because lower-level crimes aren’t often law enforcement priorities, leading frustrated victims to not bother reporting them and a cynicism that there’s little point when the penalties for conviction are so minor.
The Public Policy Institute of California noted Prop 47’s link to some theft increases in 2018. A subsequent report in September found commercial shoplifting rose 28.7% from the unusually low rates of the pandemic years.
The state’s Little Hoover Commission, an independent state watchdog agency, has been taking testimony in recent months on thefts that retailers say have become more frequent and brazen in part because of Prop 47.
But Gov. Newsom, while acknowledging a growing drug, retail theft and homelessness problem, has resisted calls for reforming Prop 47, stopping short of doing so with a host of measures to toughen law enforcement announced last month.
California voters have been resistant to peeling back Prop 47 as well, declining to do so by nearly 62% in 2020 with Proposition 20.
But the tide may be turning with mounting misery from public drug use, sprawling encampments of homeless people often suffering from drug addiction, and brazen daytime retail robberies regularly captured on video and featured on social media and TV newscasts.
The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act campaign this month reported collecting more than 300,000 signatures toward qualifying the measure. Greg Totten, chief executive officer for the California District Attorneys Association and chair of the campaign, said that’s double the anticipated collection rate. The proposed measure needs 546,651 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
“The momentum is exploding on us,” Totten said Thursday, adding that the support of Mahan and Breed is a crucial boost. Before Thursday, the only city mayor listed endorsing the proposed measure was Jerry Dyer of Fresno. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s office did not respond to questions about the proposed measure.
“It’s a very significant development, and we’re very grateful for their support,” Totten said. “It reflects the problems that as mayors they’re dealing with every day regarding homelessness, rampant retail theft and the fentanyl crises.”
Totten noted the proposed initiative amends but doesn’t repeal Prop 47. It would make a third conviction for retail theft a felony, regardless of the amount stolen. That’s still more lenient than before Prop. 47, when a second conviction would become a felony, but tougher than the elimination of consequences for repeat offenses, Totten said. The measure also would add penalties for dealing fentanyl, a cheap and deadly synthetic opioid, and provide incentives for convicted addicts to seek treatment.
Backers argue that since Prop 47, homelessness in California has increased 51 % while it has declined by 11% in the rest of the country.
Among supporters who joined Mahan on Thursday was Marlene Harden, who lost her 18-year-old daughter, Chloe, to fentanyl.
“The poison peddler was never investigated or brought to justice,” Harden said. “I can’t help but wonder how many lives this dealer is responsible for taking. We will never get ahead of this problem until fentanyl dealers face serious consequences.”