The ballot measure that would add harsher penalties for retail theft and drug crimes while expanding treatment options
This article was originally published in the Mercury News
By Devan Patel
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is stepping up his support for expanding treatment resources and more accountability for repeat drug and retail theft offenders by forming a campaign committee with other elected officials from nonpartisan offices to spur the 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 keep the focus of the public safety ballot measure on policy and away from politics.
“This issue has become partisan and controversial, which isn’t at the local level and is why we’ve come together as a committee,” Mahan said. “We want to stay focused on the issues and take a step in the right direction. It’s not a panacea but rather incremental reform that addresses the unintended consequences of Prop 47 and fits into the larger puzzle of expanding treatment.”
A growing chorus of elected officials, district attorney offices and law enforcement agencies have rallied to push for reforms of Prop 47, which made theft crimes under $950 a misdemeanor.
Major corporations and big box retailers like Walmart, Target and Home Depot have donated millions of dollars in support of the ballot measure.
Since last year, California has thrown hundreds of millions of dollars at combating retail theft through grants for law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices.
San Jose received $8.5 million as part of its grant application to help increase patrols, investigative resources and automated license plate readers.
State legislators have also passed bills this week to increase penalties for some retail offenses but that isn’t enough to undo some of the consequences of Prop 47, Mahan said.
Under Prop 36, prosecutors would regain the power to charge repeat theft offenders with a felony.
“We have seen that for petty theft it’s being treated as a misdemeanor and a paper citation doesn’t mean a whole lot to some of these people,” Mahan said. “We need to reassert expectations that we are not going to allow repeat theft and drug use in our public spaces.”
The proposed measure also takes a tougher stance on some drug crimes, including fentanyl, and gives prosecutors the ability to charge some as treatment-mandated felonies. This would allow for greater judicial discretion in permitting people charged with drug possession to opt for treatment instead of a prison sentence. Upon successful completion, the court would dismiss the charge.
Critics of Prop 36 include Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the measure “drug policy reform” and downplayed its intended effects on retail theft last month. He also questioned how the state would pay for the additional costs with the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimating an impact of hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
“I’m very concerned about this drug policy reform that takes possession and makes it a felony,” Newsom said. “And increases the size of our prison population by tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, over the next decade at a profound cost to the taxpayers. And I don’t think an improvement of public safety.”
But Mahan disagreed and said that what little the state has done doesn’t address untreated addiction, which has become more difficult to combat with more addictive substances like fentanyl becoming more prevalent.
He emphasized that Prop 36 focuses on addressing repeat offenses and the need for more government accountability to create treatment capacity in the same way the state and local officials are trying to address homelessness and encampments.
It’s not the return of mass incarceration but rather the time to “embrace the era of mass treatment,” he said.
“We have this cycle of arresting the same people over and over again,” Mahan said. “To me, the merit of Prop 36 is it gives judges more tools and discretion. There’s this mistaken belief that we are bringing back three strikes or mandating long sentences.”