Democrats in Sacramento push package on retail theft with strings attached, Proposition 47 revision heads to November ballot and there’s a big gap between Newsom and legislative leaders on prison budget cuts
An $8 million retail theft ring uncovered by authorities in San Diego County earlier this year had a brief marquee moment in the state Capitol this week as Democratic lawmakers pushed forward their anti-crime package.
That local incident was somewhat obscured by the broader political fallout from Democratic moves to fast-track the cluster of bills and their other efforts apparently aimed at keeping revisions to Proposition 47 off the ballot.
That law, approved by voters a decade ago, reclassified most nonviolent crimes involving property or drugs from felonies to misdemeanors and has been a target of criticism for high-profile retail theft.
Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders appear to be in a showdown over cuts to the state prison budget — with a nearly billion-dollar gap between them.
These developments, and the jousting among Democrats and Republicans, underscore that crime is shaping up to be a major issue in the November elections — even though overall crime rates have been dropping, particularly for violent offenses.
In February, state officials announced that a San Diego County woman had been charged with orchestrating a multimillion-dollar retail crime ring that stole and resold beauty products across the country.
Lyndsay Winkley of The San Diego Union-Tribune reported investigators determined the woman had recruited a team of thieves — many who were young women — to steal from retail locations and she sold the pilfered merchandise online. She then paid her accomplices with a cut of the profits, officials said.
On Monday, state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, highlighted that case in arguing for her Senate Bill 1144, which would require online marketplaces to collect bank account and tax identification numbers from high-volume sellers to verify they are legal.
“This is a way to get at these organized retail theft rings, which are the real source of the large volumes of stolen goods,” Skinner said at a Monday hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which advanced the bill despite privacy concerns and complaints it might burden businesses.
The measure is one of 14 bills that would, as described by the San Francisco Chronicle, create a new crime for serial retail thieves, allow prosecutors to combine certain low-level thefts into felonies when charging offenders, permit courts to issue retail theft restraining orders and institute sentencing enhancements for those who steal, resell or destroy especially large amounts of property, among other things.
The package was introduced to address growing outrage over retail thefts, which was fueled in part by viral videos of what appeared to be coordinated storming and looting of stores in various parts of California.
The bills were also offered as a counter to the emerging ballot measure to revise Proposition 47, which would increase various theft and drug penalties and give judges more leeway regarding sentencing and incarcerating offenders. This week, the California Secretary of State’s Office said the initiative received enough signatures to qualify for the November election.
But there’s still time for proponents — which include law enforcement officials, elected officials and retailers — to pull the measure from the ballot.
Here’s how Democratic leaders are trying to make that happen: They are adding urgency clauses to the anti-crime bills that would make them effective a month after signed by Newsom, rather than on Jan. 1. Significantly, suggested amendments also would automatically repeal the new laws if voters pass the Proposition 47 revision. Newsom does not support the initiative.
That means approval of the ballot measure, which isn’t a given, would kill similar tough-on-crime laws already on the books. Democrats initially said that was necessary because of conflicts between the legislation and the ballot measure. But Republicans disputed that and complained about what they called “poison pill” amendments and cynical political gamesmanship.
Some of the bills had bipartisan support, but that appears to be fading following the recent developments.
The latest maneuvering aside, Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat, recently reiterated his support for the package of bills. During his State of the City address in January, Gloria said Proposition 47 needed changes, but he is holding off supporting the ballot measure.
“Mayor Gloria supports aggressive action to tackle retail theft and other quality-of-life crimes this year and has been in regular communication with state leaders to ensure the strongest possible measures get enacted this June,” Rachel Laing, Gloria’s communications director said in an email.
“If these bipartisan legislative efforts fail to yield new laws with real consequences for criminal behavior, Mayor Gloria will support the citizens’ initiative that recently qualified for the ballot.”
There’s no indication as yet that law enforcement advocates of the initiative are backing off the measure, with some supporters contending Democrats are trying to undermine the initiative with weaker alternatives.
But retailers would be expected to mostly finance what would be an expensive campaign to get the initiative approved. The head of the ballot measure coalition told Politico the move to add amendments to the bills appeared to be designed to force retailers to choose between the two lawmaking efforts.
“There is absolutely no policy rationale for including them, except to put pressure on supporters and divide those seeking criminal justice reforms,” Greg Totten, CEO of the California District Attorneys Association said.
The tug of war over prison spending has been an intramural dispute among Democrats. Newsom has proposed cuts in many areas to help close a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, including $80.6 million in spending for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
A budget proposal from Assembly and state Senate leaders called for a $1 billion cut to corrections and the use of that money for safety net programs that are facing reductions. Lawmakers passed a placeholder budget Friday as leaders and the governor try to forge an agreement.
That figure is based on a report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office that said California prisons would operate with 15,000 empty beds during the coming fiscal year, which would grow to 19,000 by 2028, according to The Sacramento Bee. That suggests five prisons could be closed for a savings of $1 billion annually, according to the report.
There may be many factors in play regarding the cuts, including the politically influential prison guards union, which has backed Newsom in the past.
Newsom faces term limits and cannot run for re-election in 2026. But he has been seen as positioning himself for a possible future presidential run.
On the national stage, the complexity of the competing anti-crime efforts likely would result in muddled criticism of Newsom. Shuttering five prisons, whether warranted or not, would make for a simple, clear line of attack.