(The Center Square) – A new bill introduced in the California legislature this year seeks to allocate millions of dollars to enforcing a successful 2024 ballot measure that strengthened public safety.
Senate Bill 926, authored by state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, aims to commit $400 million of general fund revenue to enforcing Proposition 36. California voters passed the tough-on-crime measure with 68.4% of the vote – more than 10.3 million Californians, according to official November 2024 election results from The California Secretary of State.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2025-26 budget proposal allocated roughly $100 million over three years to enforcing Prop. 36, which increased penalties for drug-related crimes, theft and created an option for judges to require mental health treatment for those convicted multiple times of drug-related charges.
Newsom’s current budget proposal didn’t allocate any additional funding to enforcing Prop. 36, according to previous reporting by The Center Square.
“I’m going to use every tool and every avenue possible to get this implemented, and I’m going to be a bulldog,” Strickland told The Center Square Thursday. “I’m not going to let it go until we get full funding. When the governor says we don’t have the money to fund this, I think that’s laughable.”
Strickland said that other projects Newsom has prioritized, including the state’s Next Generation 911 system and high-speed rail, cost California’s taxpayers millions of dollars.
According to various news media reports, the state spent more than $450 million between 2019 and 2025 on the failed rollout of the NextGen 911 system. High-speed rail, so far, has cost roughly $16 billion and is several years past its expected completion date, according to news media reports.
“What it really comes down to is the governor wants us to fail,” Strickland said. “He campaigned against it. He’s not willing to put the money in to make sure it’s successful and make sure law enforcement has the tools they need to keep us safe.”
Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars Strickland proposes to fund Prop. 36, he anticipates that it might not be enough, he said.
“With the mental health issues we have in California, I believe $400 million is just the tip of the iceberg,” Strickland said. “I think it’s going to cost more because I think our mental health issues are a little bit more severe than most people think here in the state.”
On Wednesday, Strickland’s bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Public Safety for a bill hearing, a necessary step as a bill advances to eventually become law. There is no date set for that bill hearing yet, according to Stefan Elgstrand, spokesman for Sen. Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland and chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee.
“Ultimately the question of funding for Prop 36 will be resolved in budgetary discussions which Senator Arreguín is not a part of,” Elgstrand wrote to The Center Square in an email Thursday. “However, the Senator has previously supported efforts to fund Prop 36, including the allocation of $100 million last year to ensure that the will of the people is implemented.”
Democratic members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee did not respond to The Center Square.
Officials with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a letter to Strickland on Wednesday that their office supported SB 926.
“By ensuring that counties have the resources needed to expand treatment capacity and supervision, SB 926 will help fulfill the intent of California voters when they enacted Proposition 36,” Don Barnes, the sheriff-coroner of Orange County, wrote in the letter.
Officials with the sheriff’s offices in Sacramento County, San Francisco, Los Angeles County and other sheriff’s offices and city police departments throughout the state didn’t respond to requests for comment on Prop. 36 funding.
Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
