San Jose Mayor Forms Committee with Local Politicians to Support Passage of Prop 36

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is increasing his support for expanding treatment resources and greater accountability for repeat drug and shoplifting offenders by forming a campaign committee with other elected officials from bipartisan offices to push for passage of Proposition 36.

Mahan announced Wednesday that he is joining forces with Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho and Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen to shift the focus of the public safety vote toward and away from politics.

“This issue has become partisan and contentious, which is not the case at the local level, and that's why we've come together as a committee,” Mahan said. “We want to focus on the issues and take a step in the right direction. It's not a panacea, but an incremental reform that addresses the unintended consequences of Prop 47 and fits into the larger puzzle of expanding treatment.”

A growing number of elected officials, district attorneys and law enforcement agencies are currently calling for reform of House Bill 47, which makes theft under $950 a misdemeanor.

Major corporations and retail chains such as Walmart, Target and Home Depot have donated millions of dollars in support of the ballot effort.

Since last year, California has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to law enforcement and prosecutors to combat shoplifting.

San Jose received $8.5 million as part of its grant application to increase patrol, investigative resources and automatic license plate recognition.

State lawmakers also passed legislation this week to increase penalties for certain retail violations, but that's not enough to undo some of Prop 47's consequences, Mahan says.

Bill 36 would give prosecutors the authority to prosecute repeat offenders for serious crimes.

“We've seen that petty theft is treated as a misdemeanor and a written citation doesn't mean much to some of these people,” Mahan said. “We need to reinforce the expectation that we will not allow repeated theft and drug use in our public spaces.”

The proposed measure also takes a tougher stance on some drug offenses, including fentanyl, and gives prosecutors the ability to charge some of them as offenses requiring treatment. This would allow greater discretion for judges to allow people accused of drug possession to choose treatment rather than jail time. Upon successful completion, the court would dismiss the charges.

Critics of Prop 36 include Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last month called the measure “drug policy reform” and downplayed its intended impact on shoplifting. He also questioned how the state would pay for the additional costs, with the Office of the Legislative Analyst estimating the impact at hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

“I'm very concerned about this drug policy reform that makes drug possession a crime,” Newsom said. “And it will increase our prison population by tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, over the next decade at a tremendous cost to taxpayers. And I don't think it improves public safety.”

Mahan, however, disagreed, saying that the few measures the state has taken do not address untreated addiction, which is becoming increasingly difficult to combat due to the increasing prevalence of addictive substances such as fentanyl.