SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California voters in all 58 counties overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, the tough-on-crime ballot measure that will reform parts of Proposition 47.

Despite the immense support across the state, Prop. 36, which reinstates felony penalties for some drug and theft crimes, was opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders, California’s most powerful Democrats.

“I think our top Democrats are totally out of touch with the voters on the issue of crime. You saw the legislature frantically trying to avoid [Prop. 36] at the end of the session by passing some watered-down laws and you saw the governor trying to knock it off the ballot through secret negotiations,” said Steven Maviglio, a longtime Democratic strategist.

Several polls by the Public Policy Institute of California leading up to the election showed Prop. 36 garnering the most interest among voters.

“I think this election is an example of the fact that we often portray California as a blue state, which is true when it comes to candidate races, but when it comes to ballot propositions, we often see that Californians can paddle to the left and paddle to the right. It depends on the issue,” noted Mark Baldassare, PPIC’s Survey Director.

Baldassare says it’s not common for a statewide ballot measure to pass in every single county.

“Prop. 36 brought people together around what they thought would be a common solution to what was viewed as a problem around the state, which is public safety in their local community,” adds Baldassare.

Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, one of the main proponents for Prop. 36, emphasized the measure is a commonsense solution to hold repeat drug and theft offenders accountable.

“District Attorneys are already working across California with sheriffs, police officers, the probation department and the courts to implement Prop 36. This involves training for officers, prosecutors and court staff,” he said. 

Under Prop. 36, Reisig explains the first two drug possession convictions will still be considered misdemeanors. The third will be a treatment-mandated felony, meaning charges can be dismissed if the person goes through treatment.

“For those who suffer from serious substance use disorder and are using hard drugs, they’re going to be offered on the third conviction the opportunity to participate in a mandated treatment program and the sole goal is to help get them well and to get them reintegrated into society without a lengthy jail sentence.”

Criminal justice reform advocates like Gov. Newsom claim Prop. 36 will lead to mass incarceration. Prop. 36 opponents also have concerns about the loss of funding for several crime prevention and drug treatment programs.

“In this election, we saw Democrats of all stripes come out in support of Prop. 36. Everybody from the State Treasurer Fiona Ma who is very progressive to mayors of a lot of different cities, and our local DAs,” Maviglio said.

Prop. 36 will go into effect after the Secretary of State certifies the election next month.