Back in 2014, California voters foolishly approved “Prop 47,” a measure that reduced many theft and drug crimes to misdemeanors and ended prosecutions of shoplifting below $950 per incident. The hope was that this would keep young people out of jail for committing nonviolent crimes. Nice idea. Instead, it resulted in an explosion of crime, especially retail theft.

Now there is an initiative to repeal Prop 47 to stop the epidemic of petty crimes throughout the state. So now clever (or should we say nefarious) California Democrats who dominate both chambers in Sacramento are pulling all the stops to keep Prop 47 in place. They are preparing to pass a package of 14 mostly toothless anti-crime bills to undercut the End 47 ballot measure before voters this November.

The bill package contains an unheard-of provision saying the bills will be automatically repealed if voters pass the End Prop 47 initiative in November. The point is to create a pretext for changing the ballot summary to assert it is a SOFT ON CRIME measure because it would repeal the legislative bills.

“They are trying to change the narrative in a weak attempt to cover their decision to put politics over public safety,” State Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones says.

Polls show the End Prop 47 effort will pass easily if it is debated on its actual merits. This is a classic bait-and-switch maneuver that only goes to show that California Democrats care much more about protecting criminals than small businesses.