District attorneys in some of California’s largest counties and Prosecutors Alliance Action support the comprehensive legislative package on retail theft and fentanyl that is moving through the California legislature. The package is a more effective response to the challenges facing California than the ballot initiative to roll back Proposition 47.

“The California legislature is doing the work it was elected to do: responding to the concerns of the people of California around retail theft and substance use with a comprehensive package of legislation. It does far more to promote safety in our communities than any effort to roll back Prop 47 could do,” said Cristine Soto DeBerry, Executive Director of Prosecutors Alliance Action.

Rolling back Prop 47 would significantly threaten funding for victims and crime prevention. Since Prop 47 went into effect in 2014, the state has saved more than $800 million that has been invested back in our communities to prevent crime. Participants of programs backed by Prop 47 funding have recidivism rates up to 30 percent lower than those released from state prison. Over the next 10 years, the ballot initiative to roll back Prop 47 would take $750 million from the state’s most successful drug treatment and homelessness prevention programs and $300 million away from services for survivors of crime.

“Retail theft and fentanyl are real issues that deserve real solutions, but rolling back Prop 47 isn’t the answer. By enacting a legislative package instead, we can maintain funding for crime survivors and crime prevention programs in our communities while also implementing new approaches to make our communities safer,” said Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton.

Among the bills in the legislative package is SB 1144 by Senator Skinner and sponsored by Prosecutors Alliance Action, which will disrupt the sale of stolen goods on online marketplaces like Amazon and Facebook by requiring that third-party sellers be certified and banning sellers suspected of criminal activity from operating through online marketplace platforms. Other bills allow for retail theft to be aggregated to be prosecuted as a felony and to be aggregated even if the thefts are committed in multiple places or against multiple victims.

“We have to hold people accountable when they cause harm to our communities while also working to stop crime before it happens. This legislative package does both. The legislature and governor should act swiftly to pass it,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

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Prosecutors Alliance Action brings together the voices of prosecutors, victim advocates, and allies to advocate for solutions that will create safe, healthy communities. Prosecutors Alliance Action is fiscally sponsored by Tides Advocacy, a 501(c)(4) organization.