Kamala Harris played 'critical' role in California crime law now on chopping block

A movement is underway to reform a decade-old California crime law that opponents on both sides of the political aisle say has wreaked havoc on the state, while a "critical" supporter of the measure is running for president.

The 2014 law, Proposition 47, reclassified a number of felonies, including retail and property theft, as misdemeanors. Under Prop 47, petty theft of goods valued at under $950 is classified as a misdemeanor, even for multiple offenses. It also took a broad swath of narcotics possession offenses that were previously felonies and converted them to misdemeanors.

A ballot initiative launched last year to amend Prop 47, called the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act, or Prop 36, has been gaining support from conservatives and liberals alike in the Golden State and will be included on the November ballot. 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan have joined the effort to amend the referendum, along with district attorneys up and down the state. Vice President Kamala Harris, critics say, gave the bill "critical" support, and she won’t say whether she wants to see Prop 47 amended.

CALIFORNIA CRIME REFORM GETS 'UNHEARD OF' SUPPORT FROM DAS, SMALL BUSINESSES, PROGRESSIVE MAYORS

Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked early on in the Biden administration with addressing the root causes of mass migration from Central and South America.  (Reuters/Kevin Mohatt/Pool)

"Kamala Harris is not a hardliner [on crime]," Douglas Eckenrod, a former deputy director of parole for the California prison system, told NBC News. "Prop 47 couldn’t happen without the AG’s office support. Her support of it was literally critical."

Should the initiative to reform Prop 47 pass, it would add fentanyl to the list of hard drugs — like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine — that are illegal to possess with a gun, and it would mean more serious consequences for selling deadly quantities. 

It would also enable stricter penalties for dealers whose trafficking causes death or serious injury and warns traffickers of potential murder charges if continued drug trafficking results in fatalities. 

PROGRESSIVE CALIFORNIA MAYORS BACK EFFORT TO AMEND CRIME LAWS AMID 'RAMPANT' DRUGS AND THEFT

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at her presidential campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., July 22, 2024.   (Erin Schaff/Pool via Reuters)

"California and Californians are very much at a tipping point. The public is sick and tired of the rampant open-air drug use, the homelessness issue and the theft that occurs before their eyes," Greg Totten, co-chair of Californians to Reduce Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft and CEO of the California District Attorneys Association, told Fox News Digital. 

 "I mean, they walk into stores, and products are locked up, inventories reduced. Store hours are reduced. Stores are closing. Malls are closed. And so the public is ready for change." 

Some of the unintended consequences of Prop 47, opponents say, include the pipeline from prison to homelessness. They add that there are no consequences for crime and drug use and that drug treatment programs are not being utilized.  

During her time as attorney general, Harris and her office were responsible for writing the ballot initiative descriptions that helped voters decide what they were voting on. Her description predicted a reduction in prison populations, successful truancy programs and financial savings for the state that could be used for mental health services and K-12 education. 

A report by NBC noted that while Harris didn’t take an official position, Republicans accused her of misrepresenting the bill.  

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Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, delivers remarks during Sigma Gamma Rho's 60th International Biennial Boule at the George R. Brown Convention Center July 31, 2024, in Houston. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Steve Cooley, who served as the Los Angeles County district attorney from 2000 to 2012, blamed the rise in crime on Harris and the referendum, NBC reported.

"The damage has been untold and, in a sense, irreparable," said Cooley, who ran as a Republican against Harris for attorney general. "It was beyond a bait and switch. It was fraud by misrepresentation."

When Prop 47 passed, law enforcement authorities blamed Harris for not acknowledging that it would massively reduce DNA collection to solve crimes like rape and murder. After the law was enacted, the amount of DNA samples collected per month dropped from 15,000 to 5,000.

"[I]f she was aware of the DNA issue, Harris could have exchanged some of the verbiage for the following nine words: Will curb law enforcement’s authority to collect DNA samples. If she wasn’t aware of the DNA issue, she was not doing her job," the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee wrote in 2015. 

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Speaking to Fox News Digital, a former elected public safety official said Harris’ purported ability to combat drug and violent crime is "all foam and no beer." 

"That's really her principle. She doesn't want to take a position because she doesn't know how it will impact her future," the former official said.

"She’ll say that her job was to not formally take a position, but she could have. She didn’t want to because that’s how she threads the needle. 

"If she had written a ballot title that was fair and balanced, perhaps Californians would have seen the true impact Proposition 47 would have had on public safety and our communities. Now, 10 years later, the truth has been revealed."

A spokesperson for the Harris campaign told Fox News Digital in a statement, "During her career in law enforcement, Kamala Harris was a pragmatic prosecutor who successfully took on predators, fraudsters and cheaters like Donald Trump."