Gov. Gavin Newsom remained mum Thursday on whether he plans to oppose Proposition 36, a controversial anti-crime ballot measure that has focused on theft and drug crimes and divided Democrats.
“I’m afraid I can’t do it all,” Newsom said Thursday in San Francisco’s Mission District as he signed a major affordable housing package, saying there’s much more to his campaign between now and Election Day. “I’m trying to get Kamala Harris elected president of the United States. … I just pray, I really do, that people look favorably on Prop. 36.”
The ballot measure addresses drug crimes and theft by imposing harsher penalties on retail theft offenders, regardless of the value of the stolen goods. It also requires drug treatment instead of incarceration for those who commit certain drug-related offenses. The measure would change key parts of Proposition 47, a ballot measure that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2014.
A new survey was published on Thursday. found that 71 percent of likely California voters said they would vote for Proposition 36. Another poll released in August by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and sponsored by the Los Angeles Times showed that a smaller portion of voters, 56 percent, are likely to support Proposition 36.
“I was wondering what state I live in,” Newsom said when he saw the poll results Thursday morning. “I know people are angry, I know people are depressed. So am I. But that’s not the solution.”
For nearly nine months, Newsom has railed against the initiative, warning that the harm to Black and Latino communities would be “next level.” On Thursday, he repeated a point he has repeatedly made in recent speeches: the fact that the measure has no funding plan. Newsom called it an “unfunded mandate.” Legislative analysts estimate that this could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
“There’s not a single dollar attached to it,” Newsom said. “There’s this notion that it’s treatment on demand, which is a great thing, considering there’s not a dollar associated with it.”
The governor went on to criticize the drug treatment component of the measure, noting that it would “guarantee” mental health treatment, but questioned how the “absent” measure will work on residential treatment in 22 of the state’s 58 counties. He warned that “this is about mass incarceration, this is about 1980s thinking.”
Supporters of Prop. 36 include a group of district attorneys, law enforcement groups, three prominent Democratic mayors, including Brid London of San Francisco, Matt Mahan of San Jose and Todd Gloria of San Diego, and several moderate Democratic lawmakers. The initiative’s primary funder is Walmart, which recently contributed another $1 million. Target and Home Depot were the initial funders, according to financial reports.
Meanwhile, major donors are raising money for Prop. 36, including top criminal justice reform donors Patty Quillin with $500,000, Stacey Shusterman with $325,000, Quinn Delaney with $225,000 and the ACLU of Northern California with $120,000. Opponents of the measure include a long list of elected Democrats and criminal justice advocacy groups.
Along with Prop. 36, Newsom pointed to a number of other measures on the November ballot that concern him, including a measure that could raise taxes on health insurance providers. He expressed doubts about his ability to campaign against them.
“This is a bandwidth issue,” the governor said.
