DATE:
August 27, 2024
05
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT:
SUPPORT FOR PROPOSITION 36: THE HOMELESSNESS, DRUG ADDICTION, AND THEFT REDUCTION ACT (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Title
Body
OVERVIEW
Whether it's rampant retail theft causing neighborhood store closures and higher prices for working families, or the growing epidemic of fentanyl overdoses, Californians must address these pressing public health and public safety issues. Retail theft not only affects the livelihood of business owners but also disrupts community stability, leading to workplace violence, store closures and increased prices that disproportionately impact low-income families. At the same time, the fentanyl crisis continues to ravage communities, with overdose deaths reaching unprecedented levels and straining our healthcare and emergency response systems. The need for balanced reform is clear: it's on our streets, in our stores, and affecting our communities and families.
Passed in 2014, Proposition 47, the Criminal Sentences, Misdemeanor Penalties, Initiative Statute, expressed the intention to make California's criminal justice system more equitable by expanding opportunities for offenders to be treated at the misdemeanor level. Unfortunately, it also led to a decade of unintended consequences: Repeat, habitual and organized offenders who steal amounts under $950 and, or repeatedly possess hard drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine go without any increased accountability, or incentive to engage in addiction or mental treatment since the consequence is always a citation or misdemeanor. Sadly, there is no dispute that a substantial segment of persons experiencing homelessness suffer from untreated addiction resulting in the staggering data point from our Medical Examiner that this vulnerable population of unhoused individuals has a 117 times higher rate of overdose death, adding to the barriers to prevent and end homelessness.
Supported by over 900,000 signatures, Proposition 36 se...
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