Proposition 36: California bill to be voted on in November proposes higher penalties for minor drug and theft offenses

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Proposition 36, on the November ballot, has divided California lawmakers, including many Democrats. It would essentially repeal Proposition 47, which passed 10 years ago and made some theft and drug offenses misdemeanors instead of felonies.

According to the governor's office, Prop. 47 saved taxpayers over $816 million in lower incarceration costs. Governor Gavin Newsom says the campaign for Prop. 36 is misleading.

“Prop. 36 takes us back to the 1980s, to mass incarceration, it promotes a promise that cannot be kept,” Newsom said. “I would ask those who support it, especially mayors: Where are the treatment spaces, where are the beds? 22 counties don't have a single residential treatment facility. 22 counties don't have one. I mean, they're lying to you.”

Proposition 36 would reclassify some minor theft and drug offenses as felonies and create a new category of crimes called “treatment requirement crimes,” in which the accused person could go to treatment instead of going to prison.

If treatment is not completed, the person faces up to three years in prison. Proponents of Proposition 36 call it a reform, not a repeal of Proposition 47. They include Democrats, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park and Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock.

“We need to move beyond the era of mass incarceration, which we will not see again, and into an era of mass treatment. We do that by getting repeat drug offenders and shoplifters the help they need. Our drug courts were gutted by Act 47,” Mahan said.

“We have seen, among other things, a significant increase in the use of fentanyl and other deadly drugs that are exacerbating our addiction and mental health crises. We have also seen an increase in burglaries and shoplifting,” Park said.

“If someone goes into Walmart and steals $900 worth of merchandise, they have to pay a price for it. When I was a little boy, I would have been fined if I stole a piece of Dubble Bubble. We don't punish adults whether they have homes or not. There have to be consequences,” Brock said.

Supporters say it would address a trio of intertwined crises facing California: homelessness, untreated drug addiction and shoplifting. But opponents of 36 say it sets us back, it makes cuts to drug programs to fund courts and prisons, and it makes cuts to the recidivism prevention programs created by Prop. 47.