Citrus Heights City Council votes to support Prop 36

By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights City Council voted 4-0 in favor of supporting Prop 36 during an Aug. 28 City Council meeting.

“I think it’s a powerful reform that helps undo some of the damage caused by Prop 47,” Vice Mayor Karpinski-Costa said prior to the vote. Karpinski-Costa, along with Councilmembers MariJane Lopez-Taff, Tim Schaefer, and Mayor Bret Daniels voted in favor of supporting the ballot initiative. Councilmember Porsche Middleton was absent from the council meeting.

Prop 36, labeled as the “Increase Drug and Theft Penalties and Reduce Homelessness Initiative,” is scheduled to be on the Nov. 5 ballot and is designed, in part, to “reform elements” of Prop 47, the city states. Prop 47 reduced certain property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, specifically labeling shoplifting as a misdemeanor when the value of the stolen property does not exceed $950.

Prop 47 also authorized defendants currently serving sentences for felony offenses that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to petition courts for re-sentencing under the new misdemeanor provisions, and authorized defendants who have completed their sentences for felony convictions that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to apply to reclassify those convictions to misdemeanors.

Prop 36 conversely, would increase penalties for certain theft and drug crimes by increasing sentence lengths and level of crime. The initiative would also add fentanyl to the list of drugs (cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine) and will warrant a felony charge if an individual possesses one of the listed drugs and a loaded firearm.

Retail theft has been a challenge throughout the county, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Nearly 400 people were arrested and cited during a retail theft operation, regional news reports said.

Prop 36 opponents argue that approving the initiative will lead to overcrowding of state prisons again. The Sacramento Bee reported that several members of the Legislative Black Caucus gathered at the Capitol on Aug. 19 to voice their concerns about Prop 36, saying the initiative would mean a “return to the bipartisan failures of the 1980s and 90s.”