SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – A bid to toughen criminal penalties has qualified for California’s 2020 ballot after delays pushed it past the deadline for voters to consider it this fall.
It would roll back criminal justice reforms implemented through voter-backed Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 57 in 2016.
The California Secretary of State’s Office said Monday it collected more than the roughly 366,000 signatures it needed. Law enforcement and victims’ rights groups are backing the initiative.
It would add 15 crimes to the state’s list of violent offenses that are not eligible for earlier parole and allow felony charges for some theft crimes that currently can be charged only as misdemeanors.
It also would reinstate DNA collections for certain crimes that were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors.
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