SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — With retail theft increasing, California Democratic leadership is clashing with a coalition of law enforcement and business groups in a fierce political fight over how to crack down on the problem. State lawmakers are trying to preserve progressive policies and stay away from putting more people behind bars.
The two most likely paths under consideration this year are a ballot initiative to create harsher penalties for repeat offenders, and a legislative package aimed at making it easier to go after professional crime rings.
Leaders behind the two efforts have accused one another of misleading voters and being unwilling to work toward a compromise.
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How did we get here?
Both sides agree on the need to crack down, especially on large-scale thefts in which groups of people brazenly rush into stores and take goods in plain sight.
At the center of the escalating political fight is Proposition 47, a progressive ballot measure passed by voters in 2014 that reduced certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors — in part to mitigate overcrowding in jails and prisons. That includes nonviolent property crimes such as thefts under $950.
It has made it harder to arrest and punish people who shoplift, law enforcement said. Researchers told lawmakers there’s no evidence linking the proposition to increased violent crime rates.
How are the two solutions different?
A coalition of district attorneys and businesses, mostly funded by big box retailers, is pushing for an initiative to bring harsh penalties for shoplifting and drug offenses. It would make theft of any amount a felony if the person already has two theft convictions.
Possession of fentanyl would also become a felony, and those with multiple drug charges would be ordered to get treatment.
The ballot measure would still need to be certified by the Secretary of State before it could be placed on the ballot later this month.
California’s Democratic leadership, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, wants to keep the tough-on-crime measure off the November ballot. They worry the ballot measure’s proposal would disproportionately criminalize low-income people and those with substance use issues rather than target ringleaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods for them to resell online.
Instead, lawmakers are fast-tracking a legislative package of 14 bills that would go after organized online reseller schemes and auto thieves, and provide funding for drug addiction counselors. These proposals could become laws as early as this month.
