(The Center Square) – As Proposition 36 enters its second year, some lawmakers in Sacramento are concerned the popular anti-crime measure might not get any state funds to enforce it in 2026.
In the months following passage of Prop. 36 in 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2025-26 budget proposal allocated $100 million for enforcement, a one-time expenditure from the state’s general fund meant to be disbursed over three years.
This year, the governor’s budget didn’t allocate any new funding for Prop. 36.
“The voters were clear that they want accountability for repeat offenses, but they also want people to get real treatment,” Brooke Jarosz, senior communications officer for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an emailed response to questions from The Center Square. “We’re committed to enforcing Proposition 36, but enforcement alone isn’t enough. If the state doesn’t fund the treatment beds, clinicians and support services that this law depends on, counties will struggle to make it work as intended.”
Jarosz continued, “We’re urging the Governor and Legislature to provide the resources necessary to build that treatment capacity. Public safety and rehabilitation have to go hand in hand.”
The measure, which California voters overwhelmingly passed in 2024, was meant to increase penalties for those convicted of drug-related crimes or theft. Under the law, offenders convicted of theft-related crimes face more severe charges and sentences. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, offenders of these types of crimes were often convicted of misdemeanors. Those crimes are now felonies under Prop. 36 if the offender has two or more convictions of carjacking, burglary or shoplifting, and they stole items worth less than $950 in value. Sentences are now three years in county jail or state prison.
“Accountability and prevention both require resources,” Heather Brent, public information officer for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email to The Center Square on Thursday. “While Proposition 36 expands felony consequences and court-mandated treatment, the State has not provided consistent, ongoing funding to support local implementation. Without adequate funding, the financial burden shifts to counties and local taxpayers.”
Those who are convicted of destroying or stealing property in a group of three or more people can have their sentences extended for up to three years, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Those convicted of drug-related crimes can face longer sentences – not in jail, but in prison.
The measure also created a treatment court process for certain drug-related crimes. And the proposition made it mandatory for courts to inform those convicted of selling or providing illegal drugs to other people that they can be charged with murder if someone uses drugs that came from them and dies, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
“The most essential role of government is public safety,” Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, told The Center Square this week. “It’s the first thing that you should support when doing a budget. A budget is nothing but a blueprint of our priorities and what it says is [Newsom] doesn’t want to keep us safe in the state of California if he’d rather spend it on things like high-speed rail and other ancillary things instead of what the people want.”
Strickland continued that he couldn’t think of the last initiative that passed all of California’s 58 counties with nearly 70% of the vote like Prop. 36.
“That means Democrats, independents and Republicans want to make crime illegal again in California,” Strickland said. “Clearly the people of California want to keep us safe. It’s a slap in the face of all 70% of those voters and all 58 counties that the governor’s not funding Proposition 36.”
However, the governor’s office has pushed back on Republican lawmakers blaming Newsom for not allocating more money to fund Prop. 36.
“Blaming Prop 36 isn’t a plan — it’s an excuse that won’t make communities safer or protect small businesses,” Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, wrote to The Center Square in an emailed response. “The state has provided the funding and authority; what Californians need now are local leaders who stop pointing fingers and start owning the results on their streets.”
According to the California Policy Lab, admissions to prison from theft-related crimes prosecuted under Prop. 36 ranged from five in January 2025 to 87 in October 2025. There were no prison admissions from convictions for drug-related crimes prosecuted because of Prop. 36 in January, February or March 2025. However, in April 2025, seven people convicted of drug-related offenses under Prop. 36 started prison sentences, which increased to 40 in October 2025. The California Policy Lab database shows that there were 20,056 admissions to prison in all of 2025 because of Prop. 36 enforcement. The average prison sentence for crimes prosecuted under Prop. 36 is 26.9 months, the database shows.
Researchers at the California Policy Lab and the Public Policy Institute of California, which has also published research about Prop. 36, were not available Thursday.
Lawmakers on budget-related committees were also unavailable to answer questions.
