With retail theft crimes impacting communities across California, Assemblyman Carlos Villapudua (D-Stockton) is introducing legislation that will address concerns related to a measure passed by voters in 2014 to reform criminal justice laws.
At issue is Proposition 47, designed to reduce prison populations by recategorizing some felony drug and theft crimes as misdemeanors.
“As well-intentioned as Prop. 47 was, we need to adjust to the reality that it has created in California,” Mr. Villapudua told The Epoch Times by email Jan. 4. “Businesses are shuttering, and employees and customers are being put in harm’s way during incidents of aggressive retail theft.”
The newly introduced Assembly Bill 1787 remains a work in progress, he said.
The measure will “address specific shortcomings of Proposition 47 with a more balanced and effective approach to the enforcement of retail theft in California,” according to a press release announcing the bill.
Cracking down on repeat offenders is the first item mentioned in the assemblyman’s statement and was a common theme presented to state officials at two separate hearings studying retail theft in December.
Retail and law enforcement experts told lawmakers during the hearings that Prop. 47’s removal of aggregate theft laws—which allowed prosecutors to charge repeat offenders with felonies—resulted in brazen incidents where the same individuals would steal without consequences.
Calling the current approach a one-size-fits-all model—where any thefts less than $950 are misdemeanors that typically do not result in arrest—that is failing the public, Mr. Villapudua’s bill aims to restore prosecutors’ right to aggregate charges into felonies.
“Our current policies fail to hold repeat offenders accountable, as long as they remain under the $950 threshold in any given offense,” he told The Epoch Times. “Focusing on the aggregation of theft over time, as well as removing the cookie-cutter model of enforcement so we may consider differentiating circumstances, will provide more proportional and appropriate punishments on offenders.”
One law enforcement official told legislators in December that change is needed.
