Democrats try to change the narrative about California with retail theft bills

Perception is often reality in politics and, fairly or not, a series of viral videos showing criminals brazenly shoplifting from California stores has some people thinking  the Golden State has become lawless.

That obviously isn’t good for the party that dominates the state or for its leader, who most observers believe is intent on someday sitting behind the Resolute Desk.

So, in something of an about-face, California Democrats from Gov. Gavin Newsom on down are trumpeting plans to increase penalties against retail theft and are even partnering with Republicans to do so.

For years, California Democrats have pursued policies rooted in the values of racial justice seeking to reduce criminal penalties and prison overcrowding. Perhaps the greatest symbol of that effort was the 2014 passage of Proposition 47, a ballot measure that downgraded drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

Those policy changes remain popular with many progressives, who rightfully can point out that shoplifting is actually down in California since the passage of Prop. 47.

But perception is often what matters and those viral videos on social media have helped foster an embarrassing narrative that California in general and the governor in particular are soft on crime.

Increasingly, Californians identify crime as a problem in the state, even though in 2020 voters defeated Proposition 20, which would have reversed some of the changes made by Prop. 47.

Perception is often reality in politics and, fairly or not, a series of viral videos showing criminals brazenly shoplifting from California stores has some people thinking  the Golden State has become lawless.

So, with law enforcement and retail interests possibly eying another ballot measure, Newsom and legislative Democrats have opted to take on the state’s perception problem themselves, and they’re inviting Republicans along for the ride.

In early January, Newsom called for a crackdown on property crimes. About a month later, Senate pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) unveiled a sweeping, bipartisan package of bills to address the fentanyl crisis and retail theft alongside Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones of Santee.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, and Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Chavez Zbur of West Hollywood introduced AB 2943, the California Retail Theft Reduction Act, which would not only make it easier to prosecute so-called professional retail thieves, but it also attempts to cut off an easy means for fencing stolen goods by mandating that online sellers keep records that document the lawful chain of custody of the goods they sell.

“I’m convinced it’s a pretty significant problem,” said Zbur, who is worried about store closures in California. “It’s been building for a number of years. It’s gotten to a point where it’s not a blip in the data,” but a trend, he said.

In announcing the bill, a press release from Zbur’s office listed the principal coauthors as Assemblymembers Matt Haney, D-San Francisco; Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro; Blanca Pacheco, D-Downey; Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine; Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth… and Juan Alanis, R-Modesto.

Those are most of the members of the recently established Assembly Select Committee on Retail Theft. But that Democrats are willing to share a potential legislative victory with any Republican during what is almost certainly going to be Round Two of Biden v. Trump says something about the political importance of addressing retail theft in California.

“I think Democrats have recognized that this is a significant issue to voters in the state,” said Sen. Roger Niello (R-Roseville), who authored an unsuccessful bill to tackle retail theft last year and is co-authoring SB 982 with Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Fremont) to address it this year. “This has become a very sensitive issue to the broader population,” Niello said.

The tough-on-crime aspects of these legislative attempts to stem retail theft are sure to garner the most attention. But the efforts at combating fencing are no less significant and founded strategies used to combat methamphetamine production and catalytic converter and scrap metal theft.

In 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law a ban on over-the-counter sale of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine. The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 also limits the of pseudoephedrine products individuals can buy per month and requires them to show a photo ID when doing so.

A few years later, when copper wire theft was on the rise, 25 states introduced legislation to give law enforcement greater access to scrap metal dealers’ purchase records and created new penalties for metal theft and buying stolen metal.

And few years ago, as the theft of emission control devices rose, 10 states enacted legislation requiring the buyers of used catalytic converters to maintain records of their purchases, including notably the sellers’ home addresses and driver’s numbers.

Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkely, is the author of SB 1144, one bill in the Senate’s legislative package, which is aimed at tightening regulations to help stop the sale of stolen goods online.

“Our online marketplaces are not going to be happy about this extra burden,” Skinner told Capitol Weekly. “However, they’re facilitating the sale of these foreign goods. These organized gangs are not selling out of the back of a trunk of a car on a street anymore. They’re using platforms, just like most commerce. All goods are being sold online, so are the stolen goods.”

These organized gangs are not selling out of the back of a trunk of a car on a street anymore. They’re using platforms, just like most commerce.

Many of these anti-retail theft proposals were only introduced in mid-February, but already they have met vocal opposition. Yolo County’s longtime District Attorney Jeff Reisig, who is involved in efforts to get a measure on the ballot to amend Prop. 47, has been adamant on social media that AB 2943 does not address the root causes of what he describes as a retail theft “crisis” California.

“This is not a partisan issue,” said Reisig, whose office is nonpartisan and who himself is a registered declined to state voter.

The DA said the problem facing California is that Prop. 47 prevents prosecutors from charging repeat petty theft offenders with a felony (since it eliminated the crime of petty theft with a prior) – and AB 2943 does nothing to address that fundamental problem, which he says ties the hands of prosecutors statewide and has allowed the problem of retail theft to fester and grow.

And, to be clear, Reisig insists the retail theft problem is indeed growing in California, despite whatever the numbers might say.

The “data is wrong,” he said, alleging that the numbers showing that shoplifting is down represents a dramatic undercount of the problem. He said the retailers he’d talked with have told him they only report 15 to 20 percent of the shoplifting they experience due several reasons, including stretched resources and a lack of police response.

Reisig said the evidence that retail theft has reached crisis proportions in California is clear: stores across the state are increasingly locking up goods on their floors and are outright going out of business, a topic he writes about on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

“Anyone with eyes sees it,” he said.

But, he said, thus far the powers-that-be in Sacramento don’t seem to want to engage seriously in the issue. In fact, the Zbur press release announcing the introduction of AB 2943 specifically says “the California Retail Theft Reduction Act can be enacted by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor without voter approval” – meaning it does not touch the provisions of Prop. 47, which can only be amended through a vote of the people.

For now, at least, Reisig said, there doesn’t seem to be an appetite in Sacramento for going back to the voters to change Prop. 47, even though he believes that’s the only real solution.

“You can’t fix this crisis without amending, not repealing, Prop. 47,” he said.