After fighting the initiative, Governor Newsom takes responsibility for making crime illegal again – California Globe

Nearly 50% of San Francisco's businesses have closed and residents are fleeing the city. Downtown Sacramento still looks like the riots of 2020 just happened. Los Angeles is… well, it's Los Angeles.

And California Governor Gavin Newsom has shirked his responsibilities for ten years.

Rising crime in California's cities and towns is taking its toll on the state's residents and businesses. Because of 2014's Californians for Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, which voters misled into passing, there is no accountability for these crimes, thefts go unreported, and some businesses are even instructed not to report thefts. And we are all paying the price for rampant thefts and serial theft rings.

The ballot initiative to amend Prop. 47, Proposition 36, California's Proposition 36, the initiative to increase penalties for drug and theft offenses and reduce homelessness, will be on the ballot in November 2024, despite attempts by Democrats in the House and Governor Gavin Newsom to kill it… and despite the important legal solutions Prop. 36 will bring to California's egregious crime problems.

As we have been reporting for a decade, since the passage of Proposition 47, Democrats have had ten years to legislate the crimes that Proposition 47 elevated from felonies to misdemeanors. This has resulted in a decade of serial thefts, homelessness, drug dealing, sex crimes, sex trafficking, and other violent and horrific crimes. And every proposed bill has been summarily dismissed or never even heard.

The Democrats' motive was control. Because it's not just about out-of-control shoplifting. People are injured and even killed every day, and so much money is spent defending criminals in the name of “social justice.”

The Democrats and the Governor don't want “the people” or the Republicans to get the credit for overturning their dystopian hellscape ballot initiative because the goal was always to turn California into a society of human misery, destitution, oppression, disease and overpopulation. Just look at all the laws they pass and enact.

Still not sure? A “dystopian” hellscape is an imaginary world or society in which people live dehumanized, fear-filled lives.

Boom. Welcome to California's big cities, some of which look like Mogadishu, Somalia.

District attorneys across the state took up the fight, and thousands of volunteers worked to get House Bill 36 on the ballot – the writing was on the wall: People hate living dehumanized lives in fear.

Lacking any self-awareness, Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers did not support the initiative and instead rushed through a package of their own anti-shoplifting laws to mislead voters, including adding a “poison pill” by-law that would repeal the laws if voters approved Fix Prop. 47 (Prop. 36) in November.

The governor also threatened to bring another ballot initiative to the Senate or House in July, but he rescinded that idea amid much negative press.

“It’s all about me!” …unless it’s bad.

However, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of 10 bills on Friday that are supposedly designed to crack down on burglary and property crimes, making it easier to prosecute repeat shoplifters and car thieves and increasing penalties for those who run professional resale schemes, the Associated Press reported.

“This step comes at a time when the Democratic leadership is trying to prove that it Tough enough against crime while trying to convince voters a voting measure this would lead to even harsher penalties for repeat offenders of shoplifting and drug offenses.”

Governor Newsom took a victory lap, ignoring the fact that it was his own policies that ushered in a decade of horrific crime, drug-addicted homelessness, sex trafficking, and the exploitation of children, the elderly, and small business owners.

“Building on California’s robust laws and strategies to reduce crime and protect communities, governor Newsom today signed a landmark bill to further combat property and retail crime. The new laws provide harsher penalties for repeat offenders and additional tools for law enforcement,” Governor Newsom's office said in an email statement.

“This gets to the heart of the problem in a thoughtful and prudent way,” Newsom said of the package. “This is the real deal.”

The “Yes on Proposition 36” campaign had none of Newsom’s bravery:

The Yes on Proposition 36 campaign issued a statement in response to the passage of a package of anti-shoplifting bills. The leadership also shelved the strongest bill, Assembly Bill 1960 (Rivas), which would have been very helpful in combating burglary. They also shelved another bill, Assembly Bill 1794 (McCarty), which dealt with hoarding.

“State leaders have had years to address California's crime and drug crisis, but little has been done to address the root causes. These newly passed bills are half-measures and do not address the underlying problems of repeat theft, the fentanyl epidemic, and the ongoing homelessness crisis that remains unresolved due to a lack of strong incentives for drug treatment.

Proposition 36 is the comprehensive and compassionate solution California needs. It addresses these challenges head-on by providing strong incentives for drug treatment, reducing homelessness, and imposing the accountability and consequences on our communities and small businesses necessary to curb repeat offenders. That's why Proposition 36 has strong bipartisan support – it's the real change California needs.”

A new poll released today by the Los Angeles Times/UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found broad support by a margin of more than two to one, 56% to 23%. Among moderates, 66% favored Proposition 36, 69-70% for conservative voters and 49% for more liberal voters.

Proposition 36, a law to reduce homelessness, drug addiction and theft, provides for the following:

● Hold those who repeatedly commit shoplifting and fentanyl sales crimes accountable for the safety and health of our communities.

● Hold repeat burglaries accountable, as they drive up costs for all Californians and drive retailers out of the state.

● Restore strong incentives for people to complete necessary drug treatment and job training programs and help them start a new life. Currently, people who have been arrested multiple times for hard drug use have no incentive to go to treatment.

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow was instrumental in efforts to reform Prop. 47, telling the Globe in late June, “If they remove the phrase 'poison pill' from their bills, that means we've been successful.”

“It also means that the leadership of the California Legislature has finally acknowledged what was obvious to all of us: that Prop. 47 is dangerous and too lenient on crime, and that voters want the law reformed.”

I think that attitude still holds true today. And the adults in the state who actually made this possible really don't care who gets the credit, as long as we make crime illegal again in California.