Gov. Gavin Newsom doubles down on opposition to Prop. 36

Lia Russell, The Sacramento Bee on Dec 27, 2024

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Gov. Gavin Newsom doubled down Friday on his opposition to Proposition 36, the newly enacted statewide anti-crime initiative, and claimed that recent progress cracking down on retail theft can be attributed to his support for a statewide California Highway Patrol anti-organized retail theft task force.

At a press conference in Oakland, Newsom said Prop. 36, which passed overwhelmingly last month, primarily addressed “nonviolent drug possession” and did not allow for multiple law enforcement agencies to work together, unlike the CHP task force he has touted as a major facet of his statewide anti-retail theft strategy.

The task force has been in existence since 2019, when Newsom first took office, and is active in San Francisco, Oakland, San Bernardino, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara.

“Prop. 36 never included organized retail theft, it never addressed that issue,” Newsom told reporters from a CHP facility in Oakland. “It never addressed the issue of vehicle crimes. Never addressed the issue of multijurisdictional prosecutions.”

Supporters of Prop. 36 say the measure, which overwhelmingly passed in November, strengthens penalties for people suspected of theft, as a corrective to Prop. 47, a decade-old criminal justice reform law that they said hamstrung police’s response to homelessness, theft and other crime.

Recent crackdowns on organized retail theft could be traced back to the CHP task force, Newsom said, which he said recovered $13 million worth of stolen goods and arrested more than 1,400 people this year. He said Friday that he would extend support for the CHP task force to continue operating in Oakland, contingent upon local officials’ support for policies that allow police officers to pursue fleeing suspects.

He also signed a raft of anti-property crime bills in August that require online marketplaces to guard against stolen property sales, alert police if California-based sellers try to sell stolen goods on their platforms, and closed loopholes requiring prosecutors to prove a car was locked before charging someone with auto theft.

Newsom broke with other Democrats like San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan by not supporting Prop. 36. Despite his opposition, the governor said he did not have “bandwidth” to actively campaign against it, which voters approved by nearly 70% in the Nov. 5 election.

“(Prop. 36) locks in a requirement, but it locks out money because at the same time it cuts drug treatment money for local governments. That’s a conundrum for local municipalities, and one that I’m very concerned about,” Newsom said Friday. “And therein lies my concern and opposition to that initiative.”

Still, he said, he “applauded” any effort to crack down on organized retail theft, including for prosecutors who use Prop. 36 to bring charges.

“I applaud any effort to address the issue of retail theft. I’ve been applauding that for years and years, and I’m very grateful to the work of the California Highway Patrol continuum of advancing those efforts,” Newsom said.

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