Lawmakers send retail theft bills to the Governor

By Jolena Voorhis, legislative affairs lobbyist, and Brian Hendershot, Cal Cities Advocate managing editor.

Lawmakers on Aug. 12 passed a 10-bill package broadly supported by Cal Cities that seeks to reduce retail theft. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the measures into law.

Cal Cities and a broad coalition of partners played a key role in getting these bills to the Governor's desk, with advocacy starting late last year.

First introduced as a 14-bill bipartisan package, the proposal descended into chaos after an ill-fated attempt to scuttle Proposition 36. The district attorney-sponsored ballot measure would create a deterrent for repeat retail theft offenders and redirect some toward treatment rather than incarceration. Cal Cities supports Prop. 36 and the legislative package, as none of the bills in the retail theft package would impact the November ballot measure.

The legislative scofflaw led to several high-profile defections. One legislator pulled his bill in protest, and another removed her name from a measure. Some supporters, including Cal Cities, temporarily removed their support.

What passed?

The biggest bill, AB 2943 (Zbur and Rivas, Robert), would create a new felony charge for serial retail theft and let prosecutors combine retail theft crimes under one offense. It would also allow police to arrest suspects without witnessing the crime, prohibit nuisance actions against retailers for reporting crime, set up diversion programs, and increase probation time.

Other measures would target fencing operations, cargo theft, organized retail theft, and repeated retail theft, as well as related tactics, such as forcibly entering a vehicle or starting a fire to commit theft. The proposed changes are all critical to comprehensively addressing retail theft.

Speaker Robert Rivas elected to hold one of his bills, AB 1960, noting that it would duplicate other policies and conflict with Prop. 36.

Cal Cities supports all the retail theft bills, except for AB 2943. Cal Cities supports many of the measure's provisions but urged lawmakers to bring the bill in line with case law, allow police to use unsworn statements if they demonstrate probable cause, and clarify what successful probation looks like before sending it to the Governor.

Lawmakers still have dozens of other public safety measures to settle, including ones aimed at illicit fentanyl, intoxicating hemp, and municipal drone use. Most measures are in appropriations, awaiting their final fiscal fate on Aug. 15.

The following week will likely be quiet, as around a third of all lawmakers will be in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. After that it's a mad dash to Aug. 31, the last day to wrap up any remaining legislative business.

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