Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom elected not to dedicate funds in his proposed budget to enforce a widely-popular ballot proposal that passed in November, prompting small business owners and lawmakers to tell the Daily Caller News Foundation that they aren’t pleased that the governor appears to be ignoring the will of the voters.
In November 2024, 68.4% of California voters approved Prop 36, aimed at cracking down on retail theft and drug use and subsequently reversing Proposition 47, which reduced criminal punishments such as shoplifting and grand theft. But when Newsom released his revised $322 billion budget in May, small business owners and lawmakers criticized him for leaving out funding and ignoring the measure’s broad support.
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Speaking to the DCNF ahead of the November 2024 vote, Fraser Ross, owner of a small business with multiple locations across Los Angeles County, said theft in the city had been rampant. He described how businesses were “taking a loss” because Prop 47 downgraded drug possession penalties and reclassified thefts under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors.
The small business owner ripped into Newsom when asked by the DCNF about the governor’s decision to exclude funding for the measure in his May budget revision. “He’s just a puppet and he has no care for California,” Ross told the DCNF. “He likes to emphasize we’re now the fourth biggest economy in the world, wherever these statistics came from. But Newsom does not care about business in California.”
Ross went on to tell the DCNF he had recently visited Newsom’s Napa Valley winery, PlumpJack, and claimed that upon checking the available merchandise, all the shirts and baseball caps were allegedly made in India and China.
“He doesn’t even support California business for his own winery. He’s looking for the best buck anywhere. I mean, here, this guy’s stuff in his own winery, which could be made locally,” Ross continued.
“There’s a million manufacturers that can make local T-shirts and print on them, but he wants to make them in China and India. It’s disgusting. He cares about nothing,” Ross added. “He’s just like the male version of Meghan Markle.”
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Support for Prop 36 surged ahead of the 2024 election as voters were concerned about a rise in crime, including a 3.8% rise in robberies and a nearly 40% increase in shoplifting in 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The new proposition effectively reverses parts of Proposition 47 as it increases penalties for retail theft and drug possession, while mandating treatment for certain drug felonies.
“The state’s not the only spigot. Counties have to do their job,” the governor said at his budget presentation. “There are a lot of supervisors in the counties that promoted it, so this is their opportunity to step up, fund it.”
Another business owner who had high hopes for Prop 36 told the DCNF in 2024 that their store in the Los Angeles Fashion District was trashed and robbed. Alvaro and Amanda Bello, the married owners of B.K.A Fashion, said they lost an estimated $15,000 in the break-in.
“For us, what they took, it was like $15,000. That’s what we put on the report. Of course, all the inventory, we haven’t even finished. We don’t remember because I didn’t have it on the computer. But what we were checking and everything, what they took, it was almost like $15,000. Including my printer. It was the most expensive one,” Alvaro Bello said. “It was also the savings for my youngest kid. Because we have three boys.”
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Despite filing a police report after the incident in August 2024, Bello recently told the DCNF that he had still not heard back from police officers regarding the incident.
“…It shows his lack of support towards small business[es] and the people of Los Angeles. It shows his ignorance towards helping the people of Los Angeles who make Los Angeles what it is,” Bello told the DCNF.
“It shows his priorities lay with people and companies who fill his pockets versus people who actually put him in office in the first place,” Bello added. Prop 36 passed for a reason and it’s because the people of Los Angeles are tired of not seeing support and help and are tired of seeing Newsom support crime.”
Before Newsom’s budget release, Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland called on the Democrat governor to “respect the will of the voters” and set aside $400 million in funding for Prop 36.
In response to the backlash, Newsom’s office said Prop 36 could be funded through the Prop 47 grant program to cover substance abuse and mental health treatment, which was given a $127 million grant fund in April. However, the office acknowledged that with more criminals likely to face prison time under the new law, there will be less Prop 47 funding available to support its existing programs.
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When asked about the administration’s plan to fund Prop 36 using money from the previous proposition, Strickland told the DCNF the idea was “ridiculous,” adding that California voters had made their wishes “very clear.”
“I can’t recall an initiative that won every single county, and I’ve been doing this for a long time. Even the most liberal counties, the Marin and San Francisco, voted affirmative, and 70% of the voters voted to support Prop 36 to make crime illegal again. This should be the number one thing,” Strickland told the DCNF. “The most central role of government is public safety.”
“Think about it. He’s not implementing Prop 36, but he’s spending a billion dollars on the high-speed rail, a project that everybody in this building knows will never be built as proposed,” Strickland added. “He’s spending $50 million to give a slush fund to [California] Attorney General [Rob] Bonta to quote-unquote Trump-proof California and sue, knowing that they’re going to get their frivolous lawsuits. The things that he is funding here, and he’s not willing to keep people safe in front of Prop 36, it just tells you how out of touch he is.”
Leading up to the vote on Prop 36, Newsom expressed opposition to the measure, telling reporters in July 2024 that he was “concerned” about boosting penalties, arguing that increasing the “prison population” wouldn’t improve public safety.
“I’ve served with five governors in California. This is the most aloof, non-engaged governor I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t weigh in on these major issues. What he wants to do is a podcast to try to run for president of the United States. He wants to do a press conference and sue to get national attention. But he’s not doing the job of governor of California,” Strickland said.
When asked about not setting aside aid for the proposition, Newsom’s office directed the DCNF to the governor’s previous comments.
California lawmakers are expected to finalize the state budget by June 15, with Newsom signing the official budget by June 30.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
