{"id":398708,"date":"2026-07-15T01:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/398708\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T01:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:30:11","slug":"gavin-newsom-under-fire-for-californias-prop-36-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/398708\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Newsom under fire for California\u2019s Prop. 36 funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Democrats claimed they\u2019ve put money behind a voter-approved tough-on-crime law in Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s final state budget<\/a> this year \u2014 but critics from both sides of the aisle dispute the amount and blasted the governor for brazenly ignoring the voter mandate.<\/p>\n

Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36<\/a>, which increases penalties for repeat thieves and drug dealers, in 2024. The prop also created an option for those convicted to get mental health or substance abuse treatment through a court-mandated treatment program.<\/p>\n

But Newsom, who opposed Prop. 36 over fears it would increase mass incarceration, has been reticent to allocate money for counties to fully enforce the law, critics said.<\/p>\n

\"Gov.Gov. Gavin Newsom AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornians spoke loud and clear when they overwhelmingly passed Prop. 36 to crack down on repeat thieves and drug dealers,\u201d said Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R). \u201cTwo years later, and Sacramento still hasn\u2019t provided the funding needed to fully implement it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, the governor said he put aside $100 million<\/a> in that budget for Prop 36, though many said that was far from sufficient to pay for the sweeping crime crackdown, which raises costs for county law enforcement agencies and service providers. <\/p>\n

One Republican state senator, for instance, has tried to push a bill <\/a>to fully fund the proposition at $400 million.<\/p>\n

This year, Newsom was blasted by law enforcement groups for seemingly ignoring Prop. 36 entirely in the May version of the budget.<\/a><\/p>\n

In the final approved budget, legislative leaders claimed they appropriated $375 million for Prop 36, but budget documents only show $50 million directly for Prop 36, aimed at probation and helping courts with increased workloads from the law.<\/p>\n

Newsom has claimed that funding for related initiatives should count as supporting the implementation of Prop. 36. <\/p>\n

\u201cProp. 36 still has money from the $100 million a few years ago,\u201d Newsom said at a budget presentation. \u201cIt still has the ability to attach billions of billions of dollars of new funding that has flooded the zone in all of these other areas that can be used to address the need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople huddles while smoking at MacArthur Park. Drug treatment is a big component of Prop 36. Ringo Chiu<\/p>\n

For instance, part of that larger total is $90 million in savings from Prop 47, a soft-on-crime ballot measure that sparked the backlash for Prop 36, the Daily Journal reported<\/a>. There\u2019s also other funding for behavioral services and pretrial services that could assist in implementing the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is money they\u2019re pulling from other sources, and they\u2019re saying it\u2019s 36 money,\u201d said Greg Totten, president of the California District Attorneys Association. \u201cMake no mistake about it, they\u2019re starving the funding of the initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even some Democrats have criticized Newsom for not appropriating completely new funding dedicated to Prop 36.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is working. But without funding, it doesn\u2019t go anywhere,\u201d said Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper<\/a> on the measure. \u201cIt\u2019s just frustrating that people are hesitant to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The money approved last year for Prop 36 was late as well and was slowed down by a complex distribution process, according to the California State Association of Counties.<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s slow pace to commit money ignores the will of the voters, said Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voters in California have made themselves clear. We want our leaders to prioritize public safety and safe neighborhoods,\u201d he said. \u201cYet once again, we are being ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post reached out to Newsom\u2019s office for comment. Newsom\u2019s office has previously swatted away any claims that Prop 36 is not being funded.<\/p>\n

\u201cProp 36 included no funding mechanism \u2014 but California funded implementation anyway, with $100 million upfront, and billions available to counties,\u201d the governor\u2019s office previously said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Democrats claimed they\u2019ve put money behind a voter-approved tough-on-crime law in Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s final state budget…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,723,457,734,16785,13,13438,14591,3586],"class_list":["post-398708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-crime","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-law-enforcement","tag-mental-illness","tag-politics","tag-state-budget","tag-substance-abuse","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}