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California sheriff praises the passage of Prop 36

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco believes Prop 36 is "definitely going to make things better" for Californians worried about crime and homelessness across the state.

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Certain 2024 election results in California took many by surprise. 

The Golden State’s residents, for example, rejected another term for progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, backed by billionaire George Soros.

They also overwhelmingly voted — at more than 70% — in favor of Proposition 36, the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, which seeks to undo portions of Proposition 47 from 2014 by increasing penalties for some crimes. The proposition, which took effect Dec. 18, will allow felony charges to be filed against those possessing certain drugs and those who commit thefts under $950. Additionally, people accused of those crimes could spend more time in jail. 

In other words, the ballot measure aims to crack down on certain minor felonies that would not have been labeled misdemeanors and gone unpunished — or lightly punished — under Proposition 47.

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Surveillance video shows thieves climbing an upstairs balcony and breaking into a California home through a sliding door. (Orange County District Attorney’s Office)

When Prop 47 passed in 2014, it downgraded most thefts from felonies to misdemeanors if the amount stolen was under $950, “unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes.”

Progressives criticized the measure as racist. The ACLU of Northern California described Prop 47 in a press release as “part of a broader conservative strategy in California and across the nation to roll back criminal justice reforms aimed at interrupting the cycle of mass incarceration of Black and Brown people.”

Others believe the new bill will bring positive change to the state, especially in areas that have been grappling with violent crime for years.

“We’re making theft a felony again.”

— Chad Bianco

People loot property during nationwide unrest following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on May 30, 2020. (REUTERS/Kyle Grillot)

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Prop 36 is “definitely going to make things better” in California. The proposition will help mitigate three big issues in California, he said, including drugs, homelessness and theft.

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“Being safe is not a Republican or a Democrat issue. Being safe is a human issue,” Bianco told Fox News Digital. “Being safe is an American issue. We have a lot of freedoms in this country. We’re the greatest country in the world. And with that comes a big responsibility of keeping the people that are going to victimize us out of our free society.”

Hair and body products are seen locked behind glass doors at a Target in Los Angeles County.  (Soledad Ursua)

Californians are “tired” of public safety laws not doing enough to protect the state’s residents and businesses from crime and homelessness, which is why Bianco believes Prop 36 got vast support among state voters.

“We can now force people into rehab, or they’re going to do jail time. So with that, we know that the majority of our homeless problem is drug addiction. Drug-addicted psychosis causes this mental illness that leads to most of the people that we deal with in the homeless crisis,” Bianco explained.

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Seventy percent of people in the state who voted for Prop 36 want people who commit crimes to be held accountable, Bianco said.

“If you have a child and you discipline that child to stop them from doing things, they stop doing it,” Bianco said. “You raise productive kids. It’s not different with juveniles or adults, when they repeatedly get away with things, human nature is: You push the limit.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a homeless accountability bill.  (Anadolu/Contributor)

Bob Larkin, vice president of retail customers at security firm Allied Universal, said the passage of Prop 36 “should have a much needed positive impact on the safety of both residents and businesses in these cities as well as the entire state.”

“Over the past decade, California has encountered a number of challenges, including increases in crime and substance abuse, which have affected safety and the quality of life,” Larkin said. “As the largest security company in the world, with approximately 800,000 employees, including 57,000 employees in the state, Allied Universal team members at customer sites observe the realities of crime in California every day.”

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Larkin believes Prop 36 will help businesses and communities by giving them “effective tools to hold individuals accountable.”

Oakland’s homeless population jumped 9% over the past two years, according to the latest official estimate.  (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times)

“Supporters of the measure worked with major businesses and organizations that all wanted to effectively improve community safety. Allied Universal was a supporter of the proposition,” Larkin said, adding his belief that California residents “overwhelmingly approved the measure because they were seeing their communities and all businesses statewide severely impacted by the crime crisis that grew exponentially over the last several years.”

“This measure was needed to help improve the safety of employees, businesses and communities in California.”

— Bob Larkin, Allied Universal

California-based criminal defense attorney Julia Jayne, of the Julia Jayne Law Group, told Fox News Digital in a statement that Prop 36 means “defense attorneys will have to work harder to keep clients out of jail and prison in instances where that might not be the best solution.”

“I think it reflects a shift in California overall, where district attorneys have been recalled and where citizens are voting for harsher penalties for criminal conduct,” Jayne said. “The post-COVID years left many citizens with the feeling that crime was getting out of control, whether or not the actual data and statistics currently support that conclusion.”

Police said they believe these eight suspects have been involved in at least 23 organized retail crime thefts at various Walgreens locations in San Francisco. (Fox News)

She added, however, that she also believes the increase in felony charges will likely increase the prison population, and it’s “unclear” to her whether the measure will have a positive impact on California residents long term. 

Zack Seyun, founder and CEO of Cartha AI, an L.A.-based mental health platform, told Fox News Digital that the passage of Prop 36 hit close to home for him, both professionally and personally. 

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“As a business owner in the mental health space in Los Angeles, I am profoundly affected by California’s approach to crimes that concern the business sector, as well as the well-being of our communities—like retail theft and drug-related offenses,” Seyun said in a statement. “These are challenges I face in my business because they undermine the safety and security that my patients need to have the kinds of mental health conversations that will allow them to thrive again.”

Homeless people are seen as the city fights against fentanyl problems in San Francisco, California, United States on Feb. 26, 2024. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu)

But the proposition will have “complicated effects,” he added. On one hand, it may bring “a necessary, common-sense return to punishing thieves and some drug users more harshly—especially since what’s being reversed here are the reforms from the supposedly ‘reformative’ Prop 47 of 2014,” Seyun said. 

On the other hand, Seyun said, he worries about the impact the new measure will have on incarceration rates in California, which are already high.

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“I favor anything that will help reduce crime, but I also worry about the kind of society we are building. Higher prison populations can lead to overcrowding,” he said. “We can’t keep a certain number of individuals above ground in a certain amount of space without a serious potentially toxic allocation of local resources — the kind of allocation that redirects funds from essential community services… straight to the penal institution.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness as her first act as mayor in December 2022. (Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

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The business executive noted that the overwhelming support for Prop 36 from voters “speaks to the abundant public sentiment around crime and the perceived lack of adequate safety measures.” 

“I’ve discussed the issue with storefront acquaintances who’ve had the same unfortunate brush with criminality that I have. When you get right down to it, business in the state feels vulnerable. Meeting that vulnerability with a sense of law is what Prop 36 is all about,” Seyun said.

Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Email tips to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.