California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) on Thursday said he didn’t want to ask voters to reverse parts of Proposition 47, the state’s controversial criminal justice reform law that some critics blame for increases in rates of shoplifting and organized retail theft.
“I don’t want to go back to the ballot,” Rivas said on KQED’s Political Breakdown. “I don’t think we need to repeal Prop. 47.”
Rivas joins the two other most powerful Democrats in Sacramento — Gov. Gavin Newsom and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire — who previously stated their opposition to bringing the question back to voters. Rivas, McGuire and Newsom all say the state can tackle retail theft issues through the legislative process.
Catch up fast: California voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014, as the state faced a U.S. Supreme Court order to reduce its prison population and as public opinion swung away from tough-on-crime laws that dominated criminal justice in previous decades.
The ballot measure lowered simple possession of illegal drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor and raised the felony threshold for theft from $400 to $950.
The thinking behind the ballot measure, which passed with nearly 60% support, was that expensive jail and prison beds should be reserved for people who pose a threat of violence and are not an appropriate place for drug addicts and minor thieves. It was crafted so that the state would have to reinvest the cost savings from fewer people in jails and prisons into treatment programs.
Proposition 47 has saved the state more than $800 million by keeping people out of jails and prisons — $113 million this fiscal year alone, according to the governor’s Department of Finance.
Law enforcement leaders have always opposed the law and, in recent years, have blamed the measure for increasingly visible retail theft problems in California, ranging from repeat offenders who shoplift small amounts to organized retail crime rings that steal merchandise to resell it. The brazenness of these crimes, which are often caught on video, has increased political pressure on Democrats in Sacramento to act.
A KQED analysis of Proposition 47 found that law enforcement has been less aggressive in recent years in arresting low-level shoplifters and that Proposition 47 is often blamed for crimes that it doesn’t directly affect, such as large-scale organized retail theft.
Why it matters: Rivas’ comments could rankle some members of his caucus who are clamoring to change Proposition 47 on the ballot. Six Assembly Democrats have signed on to a bipartisan bill that would ask voters to approve additional jail time for people convicted of theft who have two or more prior shoplifting offenses.