172536_CPCA_2020_Spring Magazine - Final | Page 12

LEGISLATIVE
COVID-19
and Keeping
California Safe
By: Jonathan Feldman
Legislative Advocate – California Police Chiefs Association
Hospitalizations, homelessness, housing insecurity, health risk, unemployment, vulnerable populations,
social distancing, stay at home orders and inconsistent governmental directives. Terms that
have become synonymous with Covid-19, demonstrating the very real and very serious consequences
of battling a deadly virus in a nation-state of 40 million residents. As such, the political landscape has been
altered drastically while Legislators and stakeholders attempt to discern an appropriate legislative and fiscal
response to a global health crisis of this magnitude.
So far, we have seen legislative offices reduce their bill loads at unprecedented
rates, we’ve seen a complete mid-year reorganization
of deadlines and bill hearings, a halt to regular legislative business
in the Capitol building and a forecasted $54 billion deficit for the
2020-21 budget.
That budget will be passed on June 15, and when it is, all eyes and
efforts will begin to shift towards the November election and the
ballot initiatives therein. CPCA’s primary focus among the bevy of initiatives
this year is The Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe
Act. Supported by a coalition of law enforcement partners including
PORAC and the League of Cities, championed by Assemblyman Jim
Cooper (D-09), and opposed by former Governor Jerry Brown and the
ACLU, the initiative seeks to add crimes to the list of violent felonies
for which early parole created by Proposition 57 (2016) is restricted;
reinstitute higher penalties on those convicted of repeat theft and
shoplifting; and require DNA collection for the felonies that were reclassified
as misdemeanors by Proposition 47 (2014).
These four key components of the initiative are detailed below:
VIOLENT CRIMES
Under current law, there is a distinction between crimes that are
serious and crimes that are violent. Many crimes that are classified
as serious, but not violent, are eligible for dramatic early
release under Proposition 57 (2016) which was authored by
Governor Brown. CPCA opposed Prop 57.
A few of the crimes currently eligible for early release are:
rape of an unconscious person, sex trafficking a child, felony
domestic abuse, drive by shooting, serial arson, exploding a
bomb to injure, and more.
The initiative seeks to reclassify these and other inherently
violent crimes to ensure dangerous criminals are kept off the
streets and the safety of our communities is preserved.
SERIAL THEFT
When Proposition 47 was passed in 2014, certain felonies were
reduced to misdemeanors, and the threshold for felony theft was
raised from $450 to $950.
What we’ve seen in result is rampant retail theft, vehicular
break-ins and other misdemeanor crimes where instead of
arrests, criminals are given citations, regardless of criminal
record and repeat offenses.
Even with skewed crime data due to frustration and underreporting,
roughly $7.5 billion worth of property has been
stolen in California since the Proposition’s passage, with the
yearly value of stolen goods consistently increasing.
The Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act will add the
option for a judge to charge a felony for serial theft if a person is
caught stealing at least $250 worth of property for a 3rd time.
12 CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEF | www.californiapolicechiefs.org