If you’ve walked into a CVS in San Francisco or a Target in Los Angeles lately, you’ve probably seen it. Everything from toothpaste to laundry detergent is behind plexiglass. It feels like shopping in a museum of basic necessities. This frustration, combined with the visible tragedy of the fentanyl crisis on city sidewalks, is basically what fueled the fire behind California Proposition 36.
Passed overwhelmingly in November 2024, Prop 36—officially titled the "Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act"—is a massive pivot for the state. Honestly, it’s a bit of a "vibe shift." After a decade of focusing on decarceration and reform, California voters decided they’d had enough of the "revolving door" for repeat offenders.
But what does it actually do? Is it a return to the "War on Drugs" era, or is it the "tough love" the state needs? Let's get into the weeds.
The Prop 47 Connection: Why This Happened Now
To understand Prop 36, you have to remember Proposition 47 from 2014. Back then, voters decided to make several non-violent crimes, like shoplifting items under $950 and simple drug possession, into misdemeanors. The goal was to stop overcrowding prisons.
It worked for a while, but critics—mostly law enforcement and big retailers like Walmart and Home Depot—argued it created a giant loophole. They claimed "professional" shoplifters knew exactly how to stay under that $950 limit to avoid any real jail time.
California Proposition 36 essentially takes a sledgehammer to those 2014 rules for people who keep getting caught. It doesn't get rid of the $950 threshold entirely, but it says if you have two or more prior convictions for theft, the third time can be a felony. Period.
The New "Treatment-Mandated Felony"
This is probably the most unique part of the law. It creates a brand-new category of crime.
If someone is caught with "hard drugs" (think fentanyl, heroin, or meth) and has two prior drug-related convictions, prosecutors can now charge them with a treatment-mandated felony.
Here’s how it works:
- The defendant pleads guilty or no contest.
- They are funneled into a court-ordered drug or mental health treatment program.
- If they finish the program? The charges are dismissed. It’s like it never happened.
- If they fail or refuse? They could face up to three years in state prison.
Supporters, like San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, called this a "forcing function." The idea is that some people won't seek help until the alternative is a prison cell. Critics, however, are worried. Why? Because the measure didn't actually come with a giant pile of cash to build new treatment centers. In many counties, the waitlists for rehab are already months long.
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Cracking Down on the "Smash and Grab"
Prop 36 also takes aim at organized retail theft. You've seen the videos—groups of people rushing into a luxury store, grabbing everything, and disappearing in seconds.
Under the new rules:
- Judges can now add up to three years to a sentence if three or more people commit a theft together.
- Prosecutors can "aggregate" thefts. This is huge. If you steal $400 from three different stores on three different days, they can now add those up to $1,200 and charge you with a felony.
It’s a clear message to the "organized" part of organized crime.
The Fentanyl "Watson Warning"
Fentanyl is killing more young people in California than car accidents. It’s a terrifying statistic. Prop 36 introduces something similar to what we have for DUIs, often called a "Watson Warning."
When someone is convicted of selling or providing hard drugs, the judge has to give them a formal warning on the record. It basically says: "If you keep doing this and someone dies because of the drugs you sold, you can be charged with murder."
It’s meant to make it much easier for prosecutors to prove "implied malice" in future overdose deaths. If you were warned and you did it anyway, the state doesn't have to work as hard to prove you knew the risks.
The Cost of Getting "Tough"
Nothing is free, especially not incarceration. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) estimated that Prop 36 will cost the state anywhere from "several tens of millions" to "low hundreds of millions" of dollars every year.
Most of that money goes to:
- Prison populations: More felonies mean more people in state prison instead of county jail.
- Court workloads: Felonies take a lot more time and legal resources to prosecute than misdemeanors.
There's also a secondary cost. Because Prop 36 rolls back parts of Prop 47, it reduces the "savings" that were being funneled into victim services and school programs. For some, this is a fair trade for safer streets. For others, it’s a step backward into a system that failed us in the 90s.
Is It Working? Early Signs and Roadblocks
We're about a year into the implementation now, and the results are... complicated.
In places like San Diego, prosecutors have been aggressive. They’ve already charged hundreds of people under the new "treatment-mandated" rules. But here’s the kicker: as of late 2025, data showed that while thousands were charged, only a fraction had actually started treatment.
The bottleneck is real. You can't mandate treatment that doesn't exist.
Governor Newsom, who opposed the measure, eventually approved $100 million in one-time funding to help, but many counties say they need six times that amount annually to make the "treatment" part of Prop 36 actually happen. Without the beds, the law risks just becoming a fast track back to prison.
What This Means for You
If you're a California resident, you probably won't see a change overnight. But you might notice:
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- Higher bail amounts for repeat shoplifters.
- More "Watson Warnings" in local crime news.
- Tense budget battles in Sacramento over how to pay for all this.
The real test for California Proposition 36 will be whether it actually reduces the number of people living on the streets with untreated addictions. If it just fills up the prisons without fixing the "why" behind the crime, the state might find itself right back where it started a decade ago.
Actionable Steps for Californians
If you're trying to navigate how these changes affect your community or a loved one, here is what you can do:
- Check Your County’s "Prop 36 Task Force": Many District Attorneys have set up specific units to handle these new felony charges. Their websites often list the criteria for the "treatment-mandated" pathway.
- Advocate for Treatment Funding: The "mandate" only works if there are beds available. Contacting local supervisors to ensure Prop 36 implementation includes behavioral health expansion is key.
- Know the "Aggregation" Rule: If you work in retail, ensure your loss prevention teams are documenting "repeat" offenders specifically, as the ability to combine multiple small thefts into one felony is now a legal reality.
- Monitor the "Watson Warning": If you are involved in community drug prevention, use the new legal warning as a talking point. The legal stakes for distributing fentanyl have never been higher in California.
The law is now the reality. Whether it’s a "step forward" or a "step back" depends entirely on how the state balances the new punishments with the promised treatment.