SACRAMENTO—Six pieces of fentanyl legislation were reconsidered by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on April 27, as the issue of punishment versus prevention took center stage, with the eight-member panel deferring many for later discussion.
Over the course of the four-hour-long hearing, the committee effectively blocked three bills that would enhance punishment for fentanyl dealers.
“It’s a lot of excuse-making, instead of addressing the real problem,” Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), a committee member, told The Epoch Times after the first two bills stalled.
Labeled as unprecedented by assemblymembers, the special hearing took place after committee Chair Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) vetoed the bills earlier this year.
Assembly Republicans planned to unite and force a floor vote on the proposals last week, according to an April 19 press release with Jones-Sawyer responding by calling the special hearing.
The debate surrounding the bills is centered around the best approach to address the crisis, with two members—Lackey and Assemblyman Juan Alanis (R-Modesto)—calling for additional punitive measures for sellers of the drug while their fellow committee members remained resistant to any sentencing enhancements and insisted that education and resources for public health services are the answer to the problem.
“What’s not a debate is what’s justice, and consequences are a part of justice,” Lackey said. “To measure justice only by the recidivism rate is unfair.”
Lackey was adamant that something must be done to address the severity of the issue.
“These victims are suffering final consequences,” he said. “How do you dismiss consequences when you have such a final outcome for the victim?”
Interested parties began gathering several hours before the hearing, with hundreds anxiously awaiting the proceedings, and the meeting space filled quickly, with a large overflow room filled with additional spectators nearby.
Victims’ family members carried photographs of their lost loved ones, some with pins and T-shirts with images of young faces.
Several assemblymembers referred repeatedly to the “failed war on drugs,” and some members of the public carried signs reading, “No new war on drugs,” implying that the proposed legislation would mirror the policies enacted in the 1980s and ‘90s in response to drug addiction plaguing the country.
Law enforcement experts argued that fentanyl isn’t the same as what the nation faced decades ago with cocaine.
“I was in New York during the crack cocaine epidemic, saw China White heroin leaving bodies in the street, but this fentanyl crisis is much worse,” Dean Cardinale, a Fresno police detective and leader of the city’s Fentanyl Overdose Resolution Team, told The Epoch Times. “Fentanyl is different because it is killing children.”
Cardinale testified to the committee in support of AB 1058—a bill targeting fentanyl dealers so that anyone caught with more than one ounce of the substance, or approximately 400 pills, would face enhanced sentencing guidelines—telling the panel that he’s seen dealers in Fresno caught with thousands of counterfeit pills be released within 48 hours.
“This is a tragedy people in my community have to continue to relive,” Cardinale told The Epoch Times. “Kids are dying in their homes, oftentimes at night, and then they’re found in the morning by their parents. ... Families are struggling because they encounter these emotions every time they walk past their child’s room.”
AB 1058, which was introduced by Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R- Fresno), was met with resistance from the Democratic committee members, who are the majority.
Jones-Sawyer suggested Patterson consider amendments proposed by the committee, under what the bill author perceived to be veiled threats to kill the legislation if not adopted.
“If I had accepted those amendments, I would have been part of the problem instead of the solution,” Patterson said. “They turned their back on the victims and opened their arms to the dealers. We should be welcoming those dealers into closed jail cells.”
These proposals would have stripped the bill of sentencing guidelines and replaced imprisonment with a $50,000 fine, which would be waived for those unable to afford the penalty.
Assembly Bill 367, introduced by Assemblyman Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego), and Assembly Bill 955, authored by Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine), also failed to move forward. AB 367 sought to enhance sentencing for fentanyl dealers that cause bodily harm while AB 955 aimed to strengthen penalties for fentanyl dealers using social media to distribute drugs.Victims’ family members expressed the disappointment they felt with the perceived lack of action or urgency from the committee.
“I’m frustrated, it’s an extremely slow path, kind of a snail’s pace,” Chris Didier—father of 17-year-old fentanyl poisoning victim Zach—told The Epoch Times. “Because this is the worst crisis, we don’t have time to crawl and walk, we need to sprint now.”
Didier is a lead witness testifying in support of Petrie-Norris’s AB 955, which was referred for what the committee called an “interim study.”
“[It was the] first time I’ve heard that phrase,” Petrie-Norris told The Epoch Times. “The reason I agreed to that is that I have a commitment from the chair and the committee members that we will continue to work on and develop this policy, and to continue this process with a select committee hearing in May.”
The alternative would have placed the bill in limbo until early 2024, Jones-Sawyer said during the hearing.
“This is an urgent health crisis, and we absolutely need a comprehensive approach to address that,” Petrie-Norris said. “That includes rehabilitation, education, more investment in treatment, and it also includes tougher penalties for traffickers and dealers that are murdering our children ... They need to be held to account.”
The following three bills were passed by the committee:
- Assembly Bill 33 by Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains (D-Bakersfield) would establish a Fentanyl Addiction and Overdose Prevention Task Force, designed to reduce deaths through education and rehabilitation.
- Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez’s (D-Chino) Assembly Bill 474 would prioritize collaborative efforts between law enforcement agencies at state and local levels to target large fentanyl trafficking operations.
- Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria’s (D-Merced) Assembly Bill 675 would prohibit the simultaneous possession of a loaded firearm and fentanyl.
“The discussion is focused completely on the offender and dismisses the victim,” he told The Epoch Times. “This is not what Lady Justice stands for.”
Noting the significant number of families impacted by synthetic opioids, urgent action is needed to save lives, according to testifying parent Didier.
“These people are peddling poison for profit,” he said. “Consequences need to be felt. ... We’re not going to arrest our way out of it, but we’re not going to not arrest our way out of here.”
The sentiment is weighing on several committee members, including Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) and Jones-Sawyer, who repeatedly expressed frustration about public discussion suggesting they are “doing nothing.”
Based on the decisions made by the committee at the hearing, the preferred course of action was to refer many of the bills to an interim study, effectively putting them in a “holding pattern,” according to the committee secretary.
“It was very disappointing, extremely disappointing,” Pamela Smith—mother of 22-year-old victim Jackson Smith—told The Epoch Times. “I want to believe them because I have to remain positive.”
Smith said she isn’t deterred by the committee’s lack of progress.
“I’ll be back as many times as it takes,” she said. “I will never stop speaking on this issue because I don’t want any other parent to go through the grief that I go through every day.”
While Smith offers compassionate awareness to committee members and opponents of the legislation, she takes exception to the argument that dealers are ignorant of their actions, as proposed by a number of committee members.
“I don’t believe that, and it doesn’t matter, because their actions caused a death,” she said.
Opposition to the fentanyl bills included public defender’s offices, a handful of advocacy groups, and an organized cadre of representatives numbering several dozen from the Anti-Recidivism Coalition—a nonprofit criminal justice reform group—voicing their opinion.
With the committee recommending pushing bills back for more discussion, the chair of the committee offered several comments directly to those in attendance.
“[I] hope it shows the public how difficult it is to pass these bills,” Jones-Sawyer said at the hearing.
With the special hearing coming as a surprise for many, and with no specific reasoning for the turnaround announced last week, Jones-Sawyer addressed the matter with vague statements.
“That’s what I was trying to get to. That’s why I held all the bills, so I could bring them all together,” he said.
In what family members described as efforts to appease those questioning the timing of the decisions, he told the crowd: “If we approve something today, you’re not going to lock someone up today. We’re not holding up anything.”
Jones-Sawyer also repeatedly mentioned that fresh hearings would be held in mid-May, not the fall as was suggested in prior meetings.
