In response to 50% of retail stores in San Francisco closing their doors, Democrat Gavin Newsom has signed a series of mild laws obliquely aimed at handling California’s retail crime wave.
On Friday, the governor, who has essentially dodged the retail theft wave for nearly a decade, signed bipartisan legislation for stricter criminal penalties and additional tools for felony prosecutions.
Unsurprisingly, Newsom had no comment on 2014’s Proposition 47, known as “Californians for Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Voters were largely misled by the title, which set the stage for almost no accountability for these theft crimes. Prop. 47 reduced many felonies, including drug, sex and other violent crimes, into misdemeanors.
Proposition 36, the “Increase Drug and Theft Penalties and Reduce Homelessness Initiative,” is the proposed rational amendment to Prop. 47, which Newsom and Democrats intend to kill this November.
Hellbound and Down 