With Prop 36 already increasing penalties, other new California laws to focus on property crime
California voters this election season gave their stamp of approval on several laws aimed at cracking down on crimes such as retail theft and car break-ins.
Prop 36 -- which includes harsher penalties for some drug and theft crimes -- is already in place, and additional related laws that will take effect in the new year.
For some business owners on both sides of the Bay, a respite from rampant street crime can't come soon enough.
"So they hit the whole front," explained Adel Alsharay of Oakland's 4M Market. "We had to replace the whole window, the rolling doors. Even the counter, they pushed it all the way over there. The shelf was all the way over there. We had to push the whole counter back. Even the ice cream counter had to be redone."
For Alsharay, the past week has been spent putting his store back together after burglars rammed through the front with a car. He told CBS News Bay Area it's the kind of setback and cost he and his neighbors struggle to afford.
"We've been here since 1998," Alsharay said. "Yeah. We have a lot of people, old people. They need the store. It's a lot of work."
Starting Wednesday, California will roll out more than a half-dozen new laws aimed specifically at retail crime. AB 1960, for example, increases jail time for people who steal or destroy more than $50,000 worth of property. Others increase punishments for large-scale organized retail theft and possessing large quantities of stolen goods. Another lets business owners seek restraining orders against people who steal, vandalize or assault an employee.
Then there's car burglaries. Senate Bill 905 authored by state Senator Scott Wiener means victims will no longer have to prove their cars were locked. This was a loophole many in San Francisco wanted closed for years. Weiner spoke with CBS News Bay Area about the shift in philosophy. back when the bill was signed.
"When it comes to public safety and criminal justice, there are always swings in the pendulum," Wiener said in August.
That shift is also evident in Prop 36, which was passed by nearly 70% of California voters and is already being enforced in San Francisco.
"We are we are going to be adding to that a layer that is reinforcing what the voters of California have said which is that for repeat offenders," San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told CBS News Bay Area earlier in December. "We have to be doing more."
The public has asked for more accountability to stop the scourge of brazen retail crimes. The question business owners like Alsharay will be asking is whether the new laws will help.
"I think so," he said. "I think if there is a punishment, maybe they will stop doing it. Hopefully it will work out and help the other small businesses in Oakland."
Another new law will allow district attorneys to prosecute retail theft across multiple counties and stack cases against defendants. With Prop 36, prosecutor can take multiple thefts of under $950 and prosecute them as felonies.
