California lawmakers speed retail theft bills ahead of Prop. 47 ballot measure deadline

California lawmakers plan to expedite their bills to address retail theft — an effort to derail a movement to put a question on the November ballot that would toughen a law that made certain lower-level crimes misdemeanors.

The deadline to qualify that ballot measure is June 27, and the bid appears to have momentum. Now lawmakers may be attempting to head off the issue by speeding along their packages of bills.

Legislative leaders would rather pass measures to address the issue because they do not believe Proposition 47 — a 2014 voter-approved initiative that reduced penalties for some drug and theft crimes — needs the significant changes that a ballot measure would implement.

Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, on Wednesday said they plan to send their bills to Gov. Gavin Newsom sometime next month.

The announcement comes as the measure altering Proposition 47 is close to landing on the general election ballot.

McGuire, Rivas and Newsom are all against such changes to the ballot, saying they can address retail theft without altering the measure.

The leaders also say they want to avoid undoing criminal justice reforms and returning to stringent sentencing laws of the past that led to mass incarceration of Black and brown Californians.

Californians for Safer Communities, the group backing the measure, said last month it had gathered more than 900,000 signatures in favor of it.

Those backing the measure, called the the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, attribute a perceived uptick in retail theft to Proposition 47, which set a $950 threshold for misdemeanor shoplifting.

There is currently little conclusive data indicating whether retail theft crimes have increased substantially in recent years. Public Policy Institute of California data from 2022 showed the state shoplifting rate was 8% below levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Retail Federation’s 2023 security survey said the 2022 nationwide shrink rate — losses caused by external theft, employee stealing and systemic errors — was 1.6%, up slightly from 1.4% in 2021 but “in line with shrink rates seen in 2020 and 2019.”

When asked whether the ballot measure deadline was a factor in speeding the retail theft bills, McGuire did not directly answer the question.

“We want to be able to meet this moment, to be able to get these bills on the governor’s desk,” he said. “I would like to see it sooner rather than later.”

Californians for Safer Communities on Wednesday released a statement indicating the group intends to continue pushing their ballot measure, saying “these proposals only incrementally address the serious issues of serial retail crime and the fentanyl crisis we face today.”

“To make a significant difference, thoughtful reforms to Proposition 47 are necessary,” the group’s statement said.

Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association, said the collection of Senate and Assembly bills address retail theft issues in ways the ballot measure does not.

Michelin cited a handful of measures, including Assembly Bill 1779 from Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, to allow local prosecutors to charge related organized retail theft incidents in one county Superior Court filing.

She also mentioned Assembly Bill 1802 from Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, that would extend indefinitely the crime of organized retail theft and the existence of a task force to address it, which were to expire in coming years.

Michelin said working with lawmakers allowed her group to take time to help craft and add to measures during the legislative process. She wants to see the Legislature pass the retail theft measures by June to show members they are serious and that the topic is a priority for them.

When asked about the Proposition 47 initiative, Michelin acknowledged it had served its purpose, saying the big checks written by members of her group to fund signature-gathering efforts had produced the bill packages.

Large retailers — including Walmart, Target and Home Depot — have contributed millions of dollars to the measure’s campaign. Although the Retailers Association does not control the fate of the ballot measure, Michelin said, members could choose to stop funding the initiative if they are satisfied with the legislation.