Correspondence - #21 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

September 17, 2024 Via e-mail Members of the Santa Ana City Council Re: Agenda Item 21- Request that the City Council REJECT the resolution supporting Proposition 36 Honorable Members of the Santa Ana City Council: ACLU of Southern California urges you to oppose the resolution to support Proposition 36, the mass incarceration measure that will appear on the California Ballot in November. Proposition 36 is wrong for the city of Santa Ana, and harmful to the state of California. It is an extreme measure that will divert funds from crime victims, schools, and drug treatment programs straight to California prisons. Disguised as a retail theft measure, the prison spending initiative would impose draconian criminal penalties, including possible prison time, for low-level drug - related offenses — returning California to an era of costly mass incarceration and dangerously overcrowded prisons. Perhaps most importantly, Proposition 36 will not solve the problem it claims to address. "Prop. 36 is not the solution; it's a step backward," according to Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. As this Vera Institute analysis explains, Proposition 36 will roll back Proposition 47, which in 10 years has been wildly successful by any measure at both reducing incarceration while also reducing crime. Proposition 36 will be a major step backwards. For all these reasons and more, Proposition 36 is opposed by Governor Newsom, the California Democratic Party, League of Women Voters, Speaker Robert Rivas, Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire, California Nurses Association, California Teachers Association, National Union of Healthcare Workers, Disability Rights California, SEIU, and Smart Justice CA. Our communities are facing very real challenges that deserve real solutions. But Proposition 36 is not that solution. Sincerely, Jacob Reisberg Senior Policy Counsel