Progressive California lawmakers rally against Proposition 36

A group of progressive state lawmakers on Monday rallied against Proposition 36, a ballot measure they are calling an “expensive” crime reform that will lead to the over-policing of underserved communities and incarcerate Californians at rates akin to the 1980s war on drugs.

“For decades Californians have been calling for real safety solutions and to address the root causes that lead to symptoms like petty crime and substance abuse,” said Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) during a news conference at the state Capitol on Monday morning. “Because we know where petty crime and substance abuse occur. It occurs in the same communities that have underfunded schools, that don’t have food infrastructure, that don’t have public health infrastructure, where the rent is too high.”

The legislators credit Proposition 47, the decade-old ballot measure that changed those crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, for shrinking the state’s prison populations by nearly half. They fear that Proposition 36, a ballot measure voters will decide on this November, puts all of the progress California has made at risk of being undone.

Bryan, the incoming vice chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said Proposition 36 is reminiscent of the “bipartisan failures” from the last few decades that sent thousands of Black and brown individuals to prison for low-level, nonviolent drug and property crimes.

“It’s not a war on poverty, which is the war we should be waging,” Bryan continued. “It’s the war on poor people.”

In recent months, the Democratic caucus in California has been split over how to address concerns about theft and the increase in substance abuse across the state.

Last week, some Democrats came out in support of Proposition 36, calling for the mass treatment of individuals who abuse drugs and repeatedly commit thefts.

“People are dying who don’t have to die, and businesses are closing that don’t have to close. There is an answer. The answer is treatment,” said San José mayor Matt Mahan last week at a press conference.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has spoken out against Proposition 36, signed a package of crime bills targeting organized retail theft and the illegal resale of stolen merchandise, among other issues.

Several members of the Legislative Black Caucus opposed some of those bills, calling them overly punitive and unnecessary.

Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), a member of the Progressive Caucus and fervent criminal justice reform advocate, supports the legislative package and has also been an outspoken opponent of the ballot measure.

“Sure, there was a bit of an uptick in crime after the pandemic,” said Skinner, referring to modest increases in property crimes after 2020, which saw the lowest level in decades. “It completely disrupted all of us. Of course, we had disruption. Now what do we see? Less crime, less addiction, less drug use. It is not the time.”

Proposition 36 would impose stricter sentences for repetitive theft and offenses involving the deadly drug fentanyl. Specifically, a person who commits property theft for a third time, regardless of the value of merchandise stolen, could be charged with either a misdemeanor or a felony. The measure will also allow judges to sentence convicted drug dealers who traffic in large quantities of hard drugs, including fentanyl, or who are armed with a firearm while trafficking the drugs, to state prison instead of county jails.

The ballot measure is projected to cost anywhere from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. A majority of likely California voters — 56% — say they would support Proposition 36, with the strongest support among conservative and moderate voters, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by The Times.

Skinner, Bryan and other progressive Democrats at Monday’s news conference called the prosecutor-led ballot measure an expensive solution to a problem that has already improved on its own. Instead, they are asking to allocate state funds for education and community programs to help reduce the chances of incarceration.

The fundraising committee for the No on Proposition 36 campaign has already raised $570,000 since April. The biggest individual donor is Stacy Schusterman, a major Democratic donor, philanthropist and liberal oil heiress from Oklahoma, who has contributed $325,000. A separate fundraising committee supporting Proposition 36 has since October raised $9.71 million, largely funded by big box retailers.

Also at Monday’s rally were various criminal justice reform advocacy groups including Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Californians for Safety and Justice, one of the major proponents of Proposition 47 when voters in 2014 overwhelmingly passed it.