Huge Voter Support for Get-Tough Crime Measure Sends a Message to California Lawmakers

People mark their ballots at the Neptunian Woman's Club-Manhattan Beach vote center in Malibu, Calif., on Nov. 5. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

More than 10 million voters in California approved a ballot measure to strengthen penalties for committing certain drug and theft crimes, despite staunch opposition from some Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Citing the proposition’s large margin of victory—garnering more than 68 percent of the vote—one Republican lawmaker said supporters were sending the Legislature a clear message that public safety was of paramount importance.

“Clearly, California was over it,” Assemblyman Heath Flora told The Epoch Times. “It’s absolute checks and balances for us.”

The rural Central Valley representative said lawmakers are working with the California State Sheriffs’ Association to prepare for the new law.

Proposition 36 targets repeat offenders and seeks to address the root causes of criminal behavior by focusing on rehabilitation.

The new law also orders courts to issue a warning—nicknamed Alexandra’s Law after 20-year-old fentanyl poisoning victim Alexandra Capelouto—to all those convicted of distributing fentanyl and other narcotics that if they give substances to someone who dies as a result, they could face murder charges.

The measure was introduced to reform Proposition 47, which voters approved a decade ago to lower prison populations by downgrading some crimes—including fraud, larceny, grand theft, and personal possession of certain hard drugs—from felonies to misdemeanors.

Prop. 36 allows prosecutors to charge repeat offenses as felonies and gives judicial discretion to sentence convicts to prison for up to three years.

Diversion programs, however, will allow some facing jail time to complete drug and mental health treatment programs and avoid incarceration.

How to pay for the programs is a point of contention at the Capitol.

“I think you’re going to see legislation introduced on the funding side to try to fix that,” Flora said.

Speaking for Newsom’s office, the state’s Department of Finance said work is underway to identify funding solutions.

“Any costs associated arising from last month’s voter approval of Prop. 36 would be part of the upcoming Governor’s Budget, which is still in the process of being finalized,” H.D. Palmer, principal spokesman on fiscal and financial issues for the Newsom administration and deputy director for external affairs with the finance department, told The Epoch Times by email on Dec. 4.

He said more details will be released by Jan. 10, the constitutional deadline for the governor to present his annual budget.

Some proponents said the state could use money from Proposition 1—passed by voters in March to sell $6.4 billion worth of bonds to fund construction of mental health facilities and expand services statewide.

Newsom, who championed the passage of Prop. 1 and opposed Prop. 36, said the bond money is needed for purposes other than funding diversion programs ordered by the new law.

“It wasn’t designed over the course of years with [Prop. 36] in mind,” the governor said in a press conference Sept. 4 on a different topic. “That’s money we won’t have for other priorities in this state.”

He also said Prop. 36 could represent a return to the War on Drugs policies of prior decades and noted the difficulty in amending the law now that it has passed.

“It’s about mass incarceration ... and it would increase costs to taxpayers,” Newsom said. “And it’s an initiative that can’t be reformed unless we go back to the voters.”

Anne Marie Schubert, former Sacramento County district attorney, said local governments will have some ability to fund the diversion programs through local revenue sources rather than relying on the state for everything.

“This isn’t about mass incarceration, it’s about mass treatment,” she told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview. “This ballot measure was carefully and compassionately constructed to address the issues impacting Californians.”

Some critics of the new law said it could affect the state’s finances, as millions of dollars saved from Prop. 47 will no longer be available to fund other programs.

“It could take several years to recuperate from this,” Assemblywoman Mia Bonta told The Epoch Times on Dec. 4.

The rate of violent crime increased by 1.7 percent in 2023 and has risen by 5.4 percent since 2019, and shoplifting offenses spiked by 40 percent last year, according to an October report from the Public Policy Institute of California.

Since Prop. 47 passed in 2014, the crime rate has increased in seven of the past 10 years.

A report from the Manhattan Institute published Oct. 17 found that the measure was responsible for higher levels of repeat offenders, warrants, failures to appear in court, detention times, and dismissals.

The number of felonies charged dropped by nearly 30 percent, while misdemeanor crimes slightly increased.

“The shift is significant because it indicates that offenses were more reclassified than ameliorated: Crime is not going down; it is being renamed,” wrote Hannah Meyers, fellow and director of policing and public safety for the Manhattan Institute.

While opinions were split in the Legislature, the measure received bipartisan support.

“Proposition 36 is crucial for ensuring a more just and effective criminal justice system,” Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco said in an Aug. 12 statement issued by the Yes on 36 campaign.

She said the new laws will help protect businesses and mitigate smash-and-grab thefts.

Her colleague in the Assembly said the prioritization of drug treatment programs could save lives and protect communities.

“As a family doctor and addiction specialist who has seen so many lives lost due to illegal drugs hitting our streets, it’s clear that the status quo is not working,“ Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains said in the statement.