Legislative leaders plan to fast-track bills to combat retail theft in California and are using the reform package to pressure supporters of a proposed tough-on-crime initiative on the November ballot to drop out. that effort.
In a closed-door discussion this week, representatives of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) met with leaders behind the Coalition of Californians for Safer Communities, the group led by local district attorneys that has spent the last six months campaigning to gain voter support. to reform Proposition 47, which voters approved in 2014.
Two people with knowledge of the meeting said legislative leaders are moving forward with a tough approach that would make voters choose between the two efforts and could split support for the ballot measure.
Unless the ballot measure is withdrawn, Democratic leadership plans to add a “vacuum clause” to its legislation that would repeal the new laws if voters approve the state proposal in November, according to sources and a letter Republicans sent to voters. legislative leaders.
In the letter, Republican lawmakers condemned those changes, saying they would “cause serious harm” to the bipartisan progress made on retail theft. Lawmakers are pushing a bipartisan legislative package of 12 bills that would address retail theft problems and focus on protecting the safety of workers and store owners, without tougher penalties for some violators.
The proposed ballot initiative takes a different approach that would revise Proposition 47 to make possession of fentanyl a felony, and repeat offenders who steal for the third time, regardless of the value of the stolen product, could serve up to three years in state prison. . A spokesperson for the ballot measure campaign declined to comment on the meeting.
“The Speaker has done more in eight months than anyone has done in eight years to move the conversation forward, and I think everyone in the room recognizes that,” said Daniel Conway, vice president of government relations for the California Grocers Assn., who was present during the debates. this week. “And that's why there is a genuine effort to see what can be done.”
Both the proposed legislation and the ballot measure focus on the need to address retail theft. But in recent months disagreements have been increasing over the best path forward. Gov. Gavin Newsom made it clear that he does not want the proposed reforms to Proposition 47 to be on the November ballot, saying instead that effective changes can be made through the legislative process. But law enforcement groups and conservative prosecutors say the only way to implement substantial changes is to return them to voters.
California voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014 to reclassify some serious drug and theft crimes as misdemeanors and increase, from $400 to $950, the amount for which theft can be prosecuted as a felony.
The political maneuvering and the change leaders plan to make in the legislation could potentially lead to a split within the ballot measure coalition, which has been backed by law enforcement groups and funded by major retailers.
The Grocer's Assn., which represents more than 6,000 grocery stores and grocery suppliers, continues to support both the ballot measure and the legislation.
Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association, told the Times that she supports the legislative package and believes it does more for retailers than the ballot initiative. But she is frustrated by the politics being played on all sides.
“I'm just trying to provide resources to retailers and authorities to keep our customers safe,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don't know if the defenders of the initiative are going to give in. My fear is that we will lose all of these things in the package if they move toward the initiative. “That would be detrimental.”
