SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) has teamed up Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) and a dozen other legislators to introduce legislation that will repeal Proposition 47, the ballot initiative that reclassified a number of felony theft offenses as misdemeanors. Gallagher said that the bill, Assembly Bill 1599, is aimed at reining in California’s crime wave.
“Proposition 47 has been nothing short of a colossal failure across the state. The unprecedented increase in property crime in the North State and across California is a direct result of this failed policy. When there is no punishment for ransacking a place of business, criminals only become more brazen in their attacks. AB 1599 will give the voters a chance to put an end to this misleading proposition and allow law enforcement to put criminals behind bars,” said Gallagher.
In a recent column, George Skelton with the LA Times argued in support of the legislation, stating, “Proposition 47 should be returned to the voters and exchanged for a product that works better for everyone, including merchants.”
While Governor Newsom has stated that “we will not walk back” policies like Prop. 47, the law has received bipartisan criticism including a Democratic legislator who decried the “epidemic of theft caused by Proposition 47 that over promised and under delivered.”