LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to endorse a No position on Proposition 36, signaling how Prop 36 will cost L.A. County taxpayers millions each year and strip funding from critical crime prevention programs that keep communities safe and healthy.
“Angelenos deserve reforms that promote public safety and foster healthier communities,” said Meredith Gallen, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. “Prop 36 will eliminate effective rehabilitative programs and waste millions of dollars on mass incarceration.”
Prop 36 proposes to extend “three strikes”-style sentencing to low-level non-violent drug and theft offenses. Because more Californians would languish in jail and prison on low-level offenses, Prop 36 would cost taxpayers an additional $5 billion a year on top of the $27 billion spent annually for jails, courts, and prisons across the state.
"Lobbyists for the prison guards and the megacorporations that stand to profit from filling up our prisons have donated millions to Prop 36,” said Brian Kaneda, deputy director of CURB. “California has the highest poverty rate in the U.S., yet we continue to invest in incarceration instead of addressing the poverty that drives low-level theft and drug possession. Prop 36 mandates treatment without allocating a single dollar to fund it. Vote no on Prop 36."
California already has some of the toughest shoplifting laws in the country—tougher than 40 states including Texas, Wisconsin, and South Carolina.
“Prop 36 is a false promise. Instead of bringing our communities the safety and stability they deserve, it would strip $100 million annually from proven solutions like mental health services, transitional housing, and job training programs,” said Claire Simonich, associate director of Vera California. “California can get back on the right track by voting no on Prop 36 to protect the programs— like affordable housing, good jobs, and drug treatment—that keep us safe and help people rebuild their lives.”
Opponents of Prop 36 can be found at https://www.stopprop36.com/opponents