SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed the final bill in a legislative package that’s intended to curb crime in a state that’s faced a retail theft crisis.
Assembly Bill 1960 — written by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Hollister Democrat — requires judges to hand out stiffer sentences when the value of stolen items reaches specified benchmarks. If someone takes, damages or destroys over $50,000 worth of items, they’d get an additional year on their sentence. That would rise to two years if the value of the items reached over $200,000, and another three years if the value is over $1 million.
The enhanced sentences also will apply to those convicted of knowingly receiving and reselling stolen property.
The enhancements will sunset on Jan. 1, 2030.
“California already has some of the strictest retail and property crime laws in the nation — and we have made them even stronger with our recent legislation,” Newsom said in a statement. “We can be tough on crime while also being smart on crime — we don’t need to go back to broken policies of the last century. Mass incarceration has been proven ineffective and is not the answer. We need true accountability and strategies that enhance our nation-leading efforts to address crime.”
Newsom’s words echoed top lawmakers, who have said the bill package — of which Assembly Bill 1960 was just a part — tweaked Proposition 47. That ballot initiative, passed by voters 60% to 40% 10 years ago, reduced penalties for certain property and drug crimes. Opponents have pointed to it as a reason for the state’s retail theft crisis.
Rivas last year formed a special committee to address the crisis. A majority of the bills stemming from that and state Senate efforts targeting retail theft and drugs passed. They removed the locked-door loophole that stymied prosecutors from charging people with vehicle theft if the car was unlocked. They also put more requirements on online marketplaces, where lawmakers said many stolen goods are sold.
Bills in the package also enable prosecutors to aggregate thefts from different victims and counties to reach the value needed for felony grand theft.
However, Senate Bill 1502 — written by state Senator Angelique Ashby, a Sacramento Democrat, got held in committee and didn’t reach the governor. Her bill would have added xylazine, an animal sedative, to the Schedule III list under the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act.
“Violent ‘sledgehammer crimes’ and flash-mob attacks by organized gangs must stop now,” Rivas said in a statement. “I authored this new law to hold appropriately responsible those who damage stores and property, because our business owners and workers should not have to live in fear that these crimes will come to their doorstep.”
Democratic supporters of the bill package clashed with Republicans when the former added amendments to some of the bills that would have made them inoperable if a November ballot measure — Proposition 36 — passed, repealing Proposition 47. Supporters said they wanted to keep the criminal justice reforms Proposition 47 created by passing the bill package. Those bills would become inoperable to ensure no laws conflicted if the repeal effort passed.
Republicans called the amendments “poison pills.”
The situation reached a head in early July, when Democrats formally introduced their own ballot measure. That measure would have complemented their bill package and competed with the citizen-backed initiative to repeal Proposition 47. Just two days later, Newsom pulled the Democrats’ proposition from consideration.
Eight out of nine state Senate Republicans supported Rivas’ bill, with one member absent that day. Several Assembly Republicans also voted in favor of it.
“Californians are fed up with criminals being let loose almost the same day they commit a crime so I am pleased to see the governor sign the measures, but more must be done,” said state Senator Brian Dahle, a Bieber Republican, in a statement to Courthouse News. “While these package of crime bills do not negatively impact Proposition 36, we still need stiffer penalties, like this ballot measure, to keep our families safe and criminals off our streets."
Subscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.
