XPost: ca.politics, alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/newsom-signs-package-curb-smash-and-grab- robberies-car-thefts

Newsom said it's 'the most significant legislation to address property
crime in modern California history'

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bipartisan package of 10 bills on
Friday in an effort to reduce smash-and-grab robberies and property
crimes, creating stricter penalties for repeat offenders and people
running professional reselling schemes.

The Democratic governor was joined by a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers, business leaders and local officials at a Home Depot store in
San Jose.

"Let's be clear, this is the most significant legislation to address
property crime in modern California history," Newsom said on Friday. "I
thank the bipartisan group of lawmakers, our retail partners, and
advocates for putting public safety over politics. While some try to take
us back to ineffective and costly policies of the past, these new laws
present a better way forward � making our communities safer and providing meaningful tools to help law enforcement arrest criminals and hold them accountable."

This comes as Democratic leadership works to show they are tough on crime
while at the same time urging voters to reject Proposition 36, a ballot
measure that would impose felony charges for repeat shoplifters and some
drug charges and create harsher sentences for these crimes.

MOB OF TEENS FILMED ASSAULTING MAN, BREAKING HIS LEG � 'THIS IS WHAT LA
HAS COME TO'

Large-scale, smash-and-grab thefts, in which groups of people rush into
stores and steal items in plain sight, have become a huge issue in
California and other states in recent years, as the incidents in many
cases have been captured on video and posted online, bringing national attention to the rise of retail theft in the Golden State.

The legislation allows prosecutors to combine the value of items stolen
from different victims across various counties to help meet the threshold
for felony grand theft and enforce harsher penalties for smash-and-grabs
and large-scale reselling operations.

"This goes to the heart of the issue, and it does it in a thoughtful and judicious way," Newsom said of the package. "This is the real deal."

While the package received bipartisan support from the Legislature, some progressive Democrats did not vote for it over concerns that some of it
was too punitive.

The legislation also aims to address cargo thefts and to close a legal
loophole to make it easier to prosecute auto thefts regardless of whether
the vehicle was locked and requires marketplaces like eBay to begin
gathering bank account and tax identification numbers from high-volume
sellers.

Under one measure, retailers may also obtain restraining orders against convicted shoplifters.

PROSECUTOR SUES LOS ANGELES DA FOR RETALIATION AFTER HE WAS PUNISHED FOR 'MISGENDERING' CHILD PREDATOR

"We know that retail theft has consequences, big and small, physical and financial," said Democrat state Sen. Nancy Skinner, who authored the bill
on online marketplaces. "And we know we have to take the right steps in
order to stop it without returning to the days of mass incarceration."

Earlier this year, Newsom and fellow state Democrats worked for months on
an unsuccessful effort to keep Proposition 36, a tougher-on-crime
initiative, off the ballot for November's election. Democrats feared the measure would disproportionately criminalize low-income people and those
with substance issues instead of targeting ringleaders who hire large
groups of people to steal goods for them to resell online.

Newsom said Friday that the ballot measure would be "a devastating
setback" for California, comparing it to the ongoing War on Drugs that
aims to combat illegal drug use through harsher penalties and lengthier incarceration for drug offenders.

"That initiative is about going back to the 1980s and the War on Drugs,"
he said. "It�s about mass incarceration."

The issue of crime has appeared difficult for state Democrats to manage in recent years, as many of them have spent the last decade pushing
progressive policies to depopulate jails and prisons and invest in rehabilitation programs.

Newsom's administration, meanwhile, has also spent $267 million to help
local law enforcement agencies increase patrols, purchase surveillance equipment and prosecute more criminals.

The issue hit a boiling point this year amid mounting criticism from Republicans and law enforcement, who point to viral videos of large-scale thefts where groups of individuals brazenly rush into stores and take
goods in plain sight. Voters across the state are also vexed over what
they see as a lawless California where retail crimes and drug abuse run
rampant as the state grapples with a homelessness crisis.

The California Retailers Association said it is difficult to quantify the
issue of retail crime in California because many stores do not share their data, but tough-on-crime proponents cite major store closures and products
like deodorant and toothpaste being locked behind plexiglass as evidence
that the issue has become a crisis.

According to a study by the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of
California, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area suffered a steady increase in shoplifting between 2021 and 2022.

The California Highway Patrol has recovered $45 million in stolen items
and arrested nearly 3,000 people since 2019.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/newsom-signs-package-curb-smash-and-grab- robberies-car-thefts

--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)