Umberg Defends Prop 36 Enforcement Costs, Stresses State Responsibility
Proposition 36 will be less expensive to enforce than critics have claimed – and the state will pick up the tab. That was Sen. Tom Umberg’s message while speaking to a conference of nurses and public health officials in Sacrament on Wednesday. “I say this without seeing exactly how the Senate’s going to respond to the budget, but I think it’s a state responsibility,” the Santa Ana Democrat said of the tough-on-crime measure passed by over 68% of California voters in November. “I don’t think it’s a county responsibility.” Umberg added, “I think that there are some exaggerated estimates as to what the additional costs may be.”
Umberg, a former deputy U.S. anti-drug czar under President Bill Clinton, was among a small group of prominent Democrats to back Proposition 36. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he could play a significant role in implementing the initiative. He dismissed those who claim that prosecutors already had the tools they needed to address crime. For instance, he pointed to the $950 felony theft limit under Proposition 47, which was passed by voters in 2014. “Historically, if the threshold was $950, in my view you could steal up to $950 every day from day one to infinity and not be charged with a felony,” Umberg said.
He also pointed to the inclusion of a bill he carried last year – SB 44 – into Proposition 36. Known as Alexandra’s Law, after an overdose victim, the rule requires a court to advise someone convicted of selling opioids that they can be prosecuted for homicide if they sell fentanyl or similar drugs that result in a death. Such warnings, he said, could clear up legal ambiguity and put offenders on notice. “Let’s say you thought you were distributing Percocet and it turns out it’s laced with fentanyl,” Umberg said. “The judge says, ‘You may not have known it, but when you distribute Percocet, you distributed fentanyl as well and people potentially died. You’re getting a warning if you do this again.”