Governor outlines plan to curb retail theft

By Jolena Voorhis, legislative affairs lobbyist

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a package of bills that would address retail theft and burglary. The proposed measures are a good first step towards solving the challenges identified by League of California Cities members as a priority issue.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, rates of retail theft have increased in recent years, mostly in the state’s largest counties. The Bay Area saw the largest increase in shoplifting.

The Governor’s proposals would not amend Proposition 47, the 2017 ballot initiative that changed some nonviolent offenses to misdemeanors. He stated Prop. 47 does not need to be changed to address the current crisis. Cal Cities is part of a broad coalition advocating for changes to Prop. 47, including reducing repeat offenses without returning to the days of mass incarceration.

The proposals focus on the following issue areas:

• Resellers. Proposes new penalties for people engaged in retail theft to resell and those that resell the stolen property.
• Enforcement. Proposes changes to existing law to ensure police can arrest suspects of retail theft even if they didn’t witness a crime in progress.
• Aggregation. Proposes clarifying that the penal code allows law enforcement to combine the value of multiple thefts — even across different victims — to reach the threshold for grand theft.
• Auto burglary. Proposes new penalties for professional auto burglary by increasing penalties for the possession of items stolen from a vehicle with intent to resell, regardless of whether the vehicle was locked.
• Organized retail theft. Proposes eliminating the sunset date for the organized retail crime statute. The law, which has been effectively used by California Highway Patrol and others in the Organized Retail Crime Task Force, is set to expire on Jan. 1, 2026.

Many prominent Republican and Democratic lawmakers have put retail theft at the top of their legislative agenda this year. Some have even floated the idea of improving or revisiting Prop 47.