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The California legislature is trying to sabotage another initiative that would toughen penalties for theft and drug crimes. Why do state politicians fear voters? The Wall St. Journal reports.

Law enforcement, businesses and local elected officials across the Golden State are campaigning to roll back parts of Prop. 47. That’s the 2014 initiative that made misdemeanors of drug possession and theft of less than $950 in goods. Supporters including Mr. Newsom said it would save money by reducing incarceration.

The initiative cut the state prison count, but Californians are paying a high price. Organized criminals exploit the law’s lax penalties. District attorneys say Prop. 47 prevents them from leveraging the penalty of jail time to induce addicts into treatment. Police often don’t arrest thieves or drug users because the crimes go unpunished. Retail theft, vagrancy and open-air drug use have spiked.

Thus the citizen initiative, which would toughen penalties for shoplifters and drug dealers. Someone with two prior convictions for theft could be charged with a felony on the third offense no matter the amount. The value of stolen property from multiple thefts could be combined for a felony charge.

The initiative would also make possessing fentanyl while carrying a loaded firearm a felony. Dealers could be charged with homicide if their clients overdose. Prosecutors would have the discretion to charge drug possession as a felony after two prior drug convictions. To avoid jail and expunge the charge, drug users could get treatment and would receive shelter and job training.

California’s secretary of state last week announced the initiative had received enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. But legislative leaders are now plotting to kill the initiative with political misdirection. Democrats are advancing a package of bills to assuage public anger about surging crime. One would let courts issue restraining orders against thieves, as if this would stop them. Another would toughen penalties for organized criminals who steal more than $50,000 in goods.

Some of the legislation would help at the margin, though it would do little to help drug addicts or crack down on shoplifters not part of crime syndicates. The Democratic goal is to appear as if they are doing something about crime without enacting substantive reforms.

Read the whole thing here (behind paywall).

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