With burglary and other theft crimes still on par with last year in San Francisco and many other California cities, lawmakers have scheduled a hearling later this week for new legislation to overturn Proposition 47, the California law that lessens criminal penalties.
The bill, AB 335, was introduced by newly elected District 22 Assemblymember Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, a longtime Stanislaus County Sheriff’s sergeant.
“I think it is clear there is a major hit to retail businesses because of Proposition 47,” Alanis said in an email response to the Northern California Record. “Retailers, big and small, are being heavily adversely impacted and a recent LA Times/CAL Berkley poll has shown us that public opinion has shifted on Proposition 47. Voters may not have fully understood what they were getting when they passed this into law and they want to see changes to it according to this poll.”
Alanis described how personnel are affected when criminal penalties are not enforced.
“I have heard firsthand accounts from workers who say they are afraid to come to work in certain places of the state because of rampant organized retail thefts,” Alanis said. “I believe the amount of revenue lost to the economy due to mass retail theft in our state is quite large, but the fact is until we study the effects of Prop 47 in its entirety, we will all be left asking questions. I want the answers and I would like to work with my colleagues on a fix to the negative consequences, which retailers are taking the brunt of the burden on.”
AB 335, co-sponsored by Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, D-Jackson, has been assigned to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, and is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday.
Alanis is also part of a bipartisan effort for a Joint Legislative Audit Committee to study the effects of Prop 47.
“This is one of the main reasons I introduced a repeal,” Alanis said. “To force real conversations about this issue. I believe that part has been accomplished. But conversations must lead to actual actions and results. I am hopeful we can find bipartisan ground to work on getting the answers to the many unanswered questions about Prop 47’s impacts, both good and bad, and get real actual data to make Californians safer, have our laws enforced, and the make justice system more fair for all communities.”
Alanis said he is hopeful for a pragmatic outcome.
“In my short time in Sacramento I have found that our problem here is a failure to communicate,” Alanis said. “If we are not talking respectfully with each other on the issues, we are not serving the people who ultimately send us here to work for them. Once my colleagues and I began having serious and honest conversations on Public Safety issues it was clear there are many things we can agree on.
“I am confident the result of my efforts on Prop 47 can lead to tangible results. I am not looking to see people locked away in prisons for petty theft. I am trying to figure out why current retail theft law is not being enforced as it stands today. I am trying to bring needed relief and accountability for retail businesses of all sizes and walks of life here in California.”
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