CA Legislature Kills Crime Bills

Last week the California Assembly Public Safety Committee killed bills introduced to address rising gun crimes, homelessness and the Newsom administration’s blanket policy of granting early releases to thousands of violent and serious criminals.  Ashley Zavala of KCRA News reports that  AB 328, introduced by Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), would require mandatory prison sentences for criminals who use a gun during the commission of a crime.  “If we are serious about combating gun crime, then we need serious consequences,” he told the Committee.  Essayli noted that gun-related homicides have increased by 52% in California since 2019.  Gun-related assaults were up 64% over the same period.  He also noted that the majority of victims are minorities.  Committee member Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) would have none  of it.  “When I talk to the mothers in Oakland, they’re mostly concerned about mass incarceration…..because of the disproportionate impacts (sentencing) enhancements have had on their community.”  Ms Bonta is California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s wife.

Another bill, AB 257 from Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) would make the modest change of allowing cities and counties to restrict homeless encampments near schools.  Those who refuse to leave an encampment near a school could be charged with a misdemeanor carrying a sentence of 5-days in jail or a fine of $25.  Opponents including the ACLU said the restriction would further stigmatize and criminalize California’s unhoused population.  Last year the state set aside $7.2 billion to address homelessness.  This does not include the millions spent by cities and counties.  Numbers released by local and state officials indicate that the homeless population increased in 2022.  The bill was killed on a party-line vote.

The Committee also considered AB 15 introduced by Assemblywoman Diane Dixon (R-Fountain Valley).  That bill would require  Governor Newsom’s  Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to report on its process for determining which state prison inmates qualify for early release.  This process, which is currently kept secret, allowed for roughly 25,000 inmates to be released early since 2020, with some serving less than half of their sentences.   Last month a Selma, CA police officer was murdered by a habitual felon released after serving just five months of a sixty-four month prison sentence.  “The people of California deserve to know why incarcerated individuals are released early,” Dixon told the Committee.  The Committee Chairman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D Los Angeles) responded that the information about how inmates qualified for early release might include personal information that could be “damaging to people on the outside who are trying to do the work.”   Huh?

This week the Committee will hear, AB 335, which was co-sponsored by members Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) and Marie Alvarado-Gil, (D-Jackson).  The bill was intended to give California voters the opportunity to repeal Proposition 47 at the next general election.  Proposition 47, the so-called Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, was bankrolled by the ACLU and progressive billionaire George Soros to fool state voters into enacting a law turning theft and drug crimes valued at $950 or less into misdemeanors with zero consequences.  California’s out of control rate of theft, including swarms of thieves driving retailers out of some cities, is the result of Proposition 47.  But last week AB 335 was gutted by the Committee leadership and now authorizes a three-year-study on retail theft.  The study would collect data on reported thefts in an environment where most thefts are no longer reported because, with zero consequences for the thieves, reporting is a complete waste of time.

The chart below is the current political makeup of the California Assembly.  Almost all of the blue members are primarily concerned in advancing social justice by preventing criminals of color from going to prison.   Almost all of the red members are concerned about reducing crime and the number of crime victims regardless of their race.  The criminals of color appear to be winning.