SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two days after announcing an anti-crime ballot measure, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday night he was pulling a retail theft and fentanyl ballot initiative that lawmakers were set to vote on Wednesday night.
The Newsom-backed measure, Senate Bill 1381, was in response to the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act. That ballot measure calls for major reforms to Proposition 47.
Passed ten years ago, Prop 47 lowered certain theft and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Critics blame it as the reason for a rise in retail crime.
Newsom and Democratic leaders opposed the stricter reforms in the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, citing concerns about the reforms leading to mass incarcerations.
On Sunday night, the democratic leaders introduced the alternative measure which would have reformed Prop 47 to a lesser extent.
In a statement, Newsom pointed to not having enough time to add necessary amendments for the measure:
“We chose to introduce an alternative measure for Californians to consider that represented a balanced and comprehensive strategy that put public safety first without reverting to outdated and ineffective policies of decades past. Despite these efforts and having the votes necessary to pass the measure, we are unable to meet the ballot deadline to secure necessary amendments to ensure this measure’s success.”
The initiative passed through the Assembly Public Safety Committee Tuesday and was going to be voted on the floor on Wednesday before lawmakers went on summer recess.
“I think what they determined is that it would be a very difficult and bruising campaign between those two conflicting ballot measures and it was unclear which one voters might ultimately go for,” said Chris Micheli, an adjunct professor at the McGeorge School of Law.
Assemblymember Lori Wilson, who chairs the California Legislative Black Caucus, said she was relieved when she found out SB 1381 was not advancing.
“Now it’s about fighting the initial measure, because it will set us back and will take us generations to recover.” Wilson notes.
Wilson understands retail theft has affected residents and businesses throughout the state, but says work needs to be done legislatively to work through the issues.
“What we do know, though, is rolling back to [the] 1980s where you have this war on crime and putting people away without resources is not the way to tackle this issue,” Wilson said.
This was the legislature’s second attempt to stop the initiative as they first attempted to get the measure off the ballot by putting poison pill amendments on a package of public safety bills centered on retail theft.
The attempts to stop the initial ballot initiative have divided lawmakers at the State Capitol. Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones criticized the democratic leadership for politicizing an issue he believes is nonpartisan.
“Californians won, that’s the bottom line. The voters of California, the taxpayers, the citizens of California won by the governor losing this ballot initiative before it even got on the ballot,” Jones said.
With Newsom deciding to pull the ballot measure, his focus is now on signing the retail theft bill package.
“I look forward to working with the Legislature and our public safety and retail partners to go even further in the days ahead, without returning to the damaging policies of decades past.”
The lawmakers will vote on the public safety bill package Newsom supports when they return in August.