Crime fighting plan targets repeat offenders, not felony theft limit

Gov. Gavin Newsom outlined his vision for fighting crime in California on Tuesday: targeting repeat criminals while leaving Proposition 47 intact. The news came as the governor prepared to unveil his proposed 2024-25 state budget and plug a $68 billion multiyear deficit.

His outline meshes with the approach recently pursued by some Democratic legislators. Several have introduced bills this month seeking to make it easier to sentence certain criminals for longer periods without adjusting Proposition 47’s felony theft limits.

“Building on California’s existing laws and record public safety investments, I’m calling for new legislation to expand criminal penalties for those profiting on retail theft and auto burglaries,” Newsom said in a news release. “These laws will make California safer and bolster police and prosecutor tools to arrest and hold professional criminals accountable.”

The governor laid out a six-point plan, including several ideas meant to target repeat criminals who commit a disproportionate amount of property crimes. These began with “cracking down on professional thieves” by “increasing felony penalties and prison time” for people who steal with the intent to resell. Newsom also wants lawmakers to clarify “that the Penal Code allows law enforcement to combine the value of multiple thefts — even across different victims — to reach the threshold for grand theft.”

One advantage of Newsom’s approach is that it might avoid the need to go back to voters. That would not be the case if lawmakers tried to directly modify Proposition 47, which passed in 2014 with nearly 60% of the vote. While Proposition 47 made several changes to state criminal laws, it is best known for raising the threshold for a theft to be considered a felony from $450 to $950.

In the news release, Newsom’s office pointed to recent laws increasing penalties for “organized retail theft.” But the governor made it clear that directly attacking the felony dollar threshold was not on the table.

“California … has the 10th lowest threshold nationally for prosecutors to charge suspects with a felony, $950,” the news release said. “40 other states — including Texas ($2,500), Alabama ($1,500), and Mississippi ($1,000) — require higher dollar amounts for suspects to be charged with a felony.”

Newsom called for lawmakers to introduce bills that fit with these goals. Some already have. At least one of these would put a proposition before voters that would modify the felony theft limit. AB 1772, which Assemblyman James Ramos, D-Highland, introduced last week, would allow some convicted of two prior thefts to be convicted as a felon, even if the new crime was below the $950 threshold.

The governor’s news release also touted a wide variety of support for his ideas, ranging from progressive lawmakers to the California State Sheriffs’ Association. More aggressive prosecution of repeat criminals appears to be one of the few ideas that politicians in both major parties — and advocates normally on opposite sides of the political spectrum — seem to agree on. During a hearing last month of the Assembly Select Committee on Retail Theft, several panelists noted that many states have higher felony thresholds but tougher laws targeting repeat offenders.