Newsom sounds off on CA ballot measures on crime, health insurance

By Lynn La (CALMATTERS) – After abandoning plans to place a competing measure on the November ballot, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he would campaign against an initiative to increase penalties for some drug and theft crimes in California. Newsom accused supporters of the initiative — which would roll back provisions of Proposition 47, approved by voters a decade ago to reduce California’s prison population — of misleading voters about their true intentions and the consequences of their proposal, which he said would cost the state billions of dollars it does not have. Newsom, during a press conference in Sacramento: “It’s really drug policy reform that brings us back decades. I’m very concerned about that. I hope people take a close look at what they’re proposing.” Prop. 47 raised the threshold for numerous property crimes, including shoplifting, to be considered a felony to $950 and reduced personal use of most illegal drugs to a misdemeanor. Blaming those changes for a& purported rise in organized retail theft, law enforcement groups and major retailers qualified the November measure, now known as Prop. 36, to make a third offense of theft a felony regardless of the amount stolen. It would also mandate...