FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  September 30, 2024

CONTACT:  Todd Stenhouse, 916-397-1131, toddstenhouse@gmail.com

COMMON SENSE VS. SACRAMENTO:  San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan Announces that Nearly 200 Locally Elected Democrats and Non-Partisan City and County Leaders Have United Behind Proposition 36

Venice:  At a press conference in Venice this morning, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced that nearly 200 locally elected democrats and non-partisan city and county leaders have now joined the Common Sense on Safety, Yes on 36 Coalition.  The rapidly growing list of endorsements includes more than 75 Mayors, including the leaders of twelve of the sixteen largest cities in California.

View the Full Endorsement List Here:  https://yeson36treatmentnow.com/endorse/

“Too many Sacramento politicians have attempted to dismiss the pleas of local officials seeking common sense solutions to address the crisis of theft, homelessness, and drug overdoses plaguing our communities,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.   “We are not ‘just a couple of mayors’ as some have suggested, but rather a groundswell of local elected officials—mostly Democrats—fighting for responsible public safety reforms to end the suffering we see on the streets every day.   The problem is neither partisan nor confined to California’s biggest cities, and that’s why hundreds of locally elected leaders from every background and every corner of our state are stepping up to say Yes on Proposition 36.”

Mahan noted that amongst the more than 200 locally elected leaders who have joined the Common Sense on Safety—Yes on 36 coalition, more than 90% were Democrats or Non-Partisan leaders elected to more than 125 city and county governing bodies that represent nearly ten million constituents across California.  By themselves, the locally elected Democrats and Non-Partisan Mayors who have joined the coalition collectively represent over 8.1 million Californians. 

“Most of the local elected officials who have joined us supported Prop. 47, but we know first- hand that gaps in the law are costing lives, crippling small businesses, raising costs for municipalities and imposing a regressive ‘theft tax’ on working families,” Mahan added.  “Prop. 36 brings back the tools we need to get more people into life-saving treatment, to hold those who repeatedly steal and deal poison on our streets accountable, and to ultimately bring more of the un-housed neighbors who are trapped in a cycle of addiction indoors.  This isn’t a question of right vs. left, but rather the local communities who are facing down this epidemic against a Sacramento establishment that has been unwilling to stop the suffering in our communities.”

While Prop. 47’s reforms of sentencing for non-violent drug crimes achieved the goal of reducing California’s prison and jail population by tens of thousands, it removed the ability of judges to compel treatment for repeat drug offenders, serial thieves, and others with contact to California’s criminal justice system.    Since the measure passed, drug overdoses have become the leading cause of death for Californians aged 15-44, participation in proven diversion programs like drug courts have plummeted, retail theft has spiked, and the state’s homeless population has grown by 60% despite dropping in most other states.  The State’s Legislative Analysts Office has said the reforms included in Prop. 36 would would leave most of the gains made from Prop. 47’s easing of prison overcrowding intact.

“Let us be clear,” Mayor Mahan wrote in a Los Angeles Daily News column today with Los Angeles City Council Member Traci Park. “Failing to combat an epidemic that has transformed too many California cities into a national caricature is not progressive leadership. It’s not conservative leadership. It’s an abdication of leadership.”

Recent  polling shows Yes on 36 enjoying broad support amongst likely voters across the state, including strong majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. 

View the Full Endorsement List Here:  https://yeson36treatmentnow.com/endorse/

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Paid for and Authorized by Common Sense on Safety, Yes on Prop. 36, a ballot measure committee controlled by Mayor Matt Mahan, District Attorney Thien Ho, and Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen.  FPPC ID: 1473129. Committee’s Top Funders:
Chris Larsen, Tali Rapaport, and Sam Harris.  Learn more at www.yeson36treatmentnow.com.