(The Center Square) – California Republican legislators are urging the nonpartisan Little Hoover Commission to analyze retail theft and how Proposition 47, which largely decriminalized drug use and reduces theft under $950, even for serial offenders, to a misdemeanor, impacts retail theft, and recommend policy solutions.
According to the Council on Criminal Justice, reported shoplifting increased 61% from 2019 through 2023 in Los Angeles.
While the LHC is already holding hearings on retail theft, the Republican letter demands that Prop 47 and what they claim are decreases in reporting of theft due to lack of consequences for criminals be considered in the commission’s analysis.
“The increase in theft at all levels – shoplifting, smash-and-grab sprees, and organized retail crime – is stunning, costly, and dangerous,” said California Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R–Santee, in a public statement. “We are optimistic that the commission’s report will connect the dots on how Prop 47 has enabled drug abuse, escalated homelessness, endangered communities, and turned shopping into a criminal spectacle.”
Prop 47, also called the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” was passed by California voters in 2014 and made the crimes of theft under $950 and illegal drug possession misdemeanors. Advocates argued the measure would allow the state to “ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious offenses, to maximize alternatives for nonserious, nonviolent crime, and to invest the savings generated from this act into prevention and support programs in K–12 schools, victim services, and mental health and drug treatment.”
Savings from reducing prison populations created an estimated $29.3 million in fiscal year 2016-2017 for the Prop 47-created Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, which funds mental health and substance use services, truancy and dropout prevention, and victim services. One Prop 47-funded program in Los Angeles that serves recently arrested or convicted individuals who have a history of mental health and or/substance abuse issues has helped more than half of participants obtain employment, with more than half of those who started work remaining working one year after starting the program.
Meanwhile, retail theft in California is estimated to cost businesses $7.8 billion each year, driving $568 million in lost tax revenue across the state in 2022 alone, when shoplifting increased nearly 29%.
California Democrats have been reluctant to advocate for changes to Prop 47, and instead have emphasized organized retail crime as the main driver of rising theft. In the wake of high-profile, viral crime sprees that included a $300,000 daylight heist at a Yves Saint Laurent store in Los Angeles, leaders ranging from Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass to California governor Gavin Newsom unveiled law enforcement task forces to capture and prosecute participants in mass theft events.
Republicans, however, say this isn’t enough
“In California, criminals easily get away with serial theft because the majority party continues to shield them from punishment, and our communities and businesses are the ones facing the consequences,” said Sen. Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, in a public statement.
During the 2022-2023 legislative session, Niello introduced a bill to allow for felony charges for serial thieves, even for theft under $950, if the defendant has served time in jail or prison for three prior theft-related convictions. The bill died in committee.
