Democratic legislative leaders Sunday night unveiled a ballot measure they say will reduce retail theft and punish drug suppliers who sell fentanyl-tainted products to unwitting consumers.
It’s designed as an alternative to a measure already on the November ballot that would increase punishments and roll back Proposition 47, which voters approved in 2014 and which reduced certain property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, provided that the stolen goods aren’t worth more than $950.
In a joint statement today, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate Democratic leader Mike McGuire of Santa Rosa and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas of Salinas said the measure will improve public safety without returning to mass incarceration.
“This balanced approach cracks down on crime and protects our communities — without reverting to ineffective and costly policies of the past,” Newsom said in the statement.
McGuire said the proposal “will crack down on retail theft and hold offenders accountable for hardcore drug crimes, without enacting the draconian policies of the ‘80s and ‘90s that devastated communities of color and cost taxpayers billions of dollars.”
And Rivas said the measure “will deliver real results that we can afford. We listened to Californians and are giving them a better choice.”
But Democrats’ efforts have already drawn scorn from Republican legislators, who called the second ballot measure a “shady” attempt to confuse voters. Assembly GOP leader James Gallagher of Chico called it a “Deep Fake reform initiative” in a social media post, while Senate leader Brian Jones of San Diego called the bill “a blatant attempt to undermine the will of the people.”
In a memo today, the campaign for the Prop. 47 repeal said the Democrats’ proposal…
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