Newsom signs deal to crack down on burglaries, car thefts and shoplifting

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bipartisan package of 10 bills aimed at reducing burglaries and property crimes by creating tougher penalties for repeat offenders and people who run professional resale 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 piece of legislation to combat property crime in modern California history,” Newsom said Friday. “I thank the bipartisan group of legislators, our retail partners, and public safety advocates for putting public safety above politics. While some are trying to return us to the ineffective and costly policies of the past, these new laws present a better path forward: making our communities safer and providing meaningful tools to help law enforcement stop criminals and hold them accountable.”

It comes as Democratic leaders are trying to show they are tough on crime while urging voters to reject Proposition 36, a referendum measure that would impose felony charges for repeat shoplifters and some drug charges and create harsher penalties for those crimes.

MOB OF TEENS CAUGHT BEATING MAN AND BREAKING HIS LEG – ‘THIS IS WHAT LOS ANGELES HAS COME TO’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bipartisan package of 10 bills aimed at reducing burglaries and property crimes. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Mass robberies, in which groups of people rush into stores and steal items in plain sight, have become a huge problem in California and other states in recent years, as the incidents have in many cases been caught on video and posted online, drawing national attention to the rise in retail thefts in the Golden State.

The legislation allows prosecutors to combine the value of items stolen from different victims in different counties to meet the robbery threshold and apply harsher penalties for armed robberies and large-scale resale operations.

“This gets to the heart of the problem, and it’s being done thoughtfully and thoughtfully,” Newsom said of the plan. “This is a real deal.”

Although the bill received bipartisan support in the Legislature, some progressive Democrats did not vote for it, fearing that some of its provisions would be too punitive.

The legislation also aims to crack down on cargo theft and close a legal loophole to make it easier to prosecute vehicle thefts, whether the vehicle is locked or unlocked, and requires marketplaces like eBay to start collecting bank account and tax identification numbers from high-volume sellers.

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

PROSECUTOR SUES LOS ANGELES ATTORNEY’S OFFICER FOR RETALIATION AFTER BEING PUNISHED FOR ‘MISGENDERING’ CHILD PREDATOR

Although the bill received bipartisan support in the Legislature, some progressive Democrats did not vote for it, fearing that some of its provisions would be too punitive. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“We know that retail theft has consequences, large and small, physical and financial,” said Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner, the author of the online marketplace bill. “And we know we must take appropriate action to stop it without returning to the days of mass incarceration.”

Earlier this year, Newsom and his fellow Democrats worked for months on an unsuccessful attempt to block Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime initiative, from the November ballot measure. Democrats worried that the measure would disproportionately criminalize low-income people and those with substance abuse problems instead of targeting ringleaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods that they then 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 tougher sentences and longer incarceration for drug offenders.

“This initiative goes back to the 1980s and the war on drugs,” he said. “This is mass incarceration.”

The crime issue has proven difficult to navigate for state Democrats in recent years, as many of them have spent the past decade promoting progressive policies aimed at depopulating prisons and investing in rehabilitation programs.

The Newsom administration has also spent $267 million to help local law enforcement increase patrols, buy surveillance equipment and pursue more criminals.

Newsom said Proposition 36 would be “a devastating setback” for California. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)

The issue has reached a boiling point this year amid growing criticism from Republicans and law enforcement, who point to viral videos of mass robberies in which groups of individuals brazenly storm stores and steal merchandise in plain sight. Voters across the state are also angered by what they see as a lawless California, where retail crime and drug abuse are rife as the state grapples with a homelessness crisis.

The California Retailers Association said it is difficult to quantify California's retail crime problem because many stores do not share their data, but anti-crime advocates cite department store closures and the fact that products like deodorant and toothpaste are being locked behind plexiglass as evidence that the problem has become a crisis.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area saw a steady increase in shoplifting between 2021 and 2022, according to a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.