The fight over California’s Proposition 36 is brewing. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is coming out in support of the measure, saying the key is targeting repeat offenders and focusing on treatment.
Mahan is one of three ranking Democrats that just sided with Republicans in supporting the measure, which increases sentencing for certain drug and theft crimes. He’s joined by the mayor of Elk Grove and Sacramento’s DA. Prop 36 would roll back some of the key provisions from another controversial law in Prop 47, which changed many felonies into misdemeanors. Governor Newsom is against Prop 36, saying it will make the prison overcrowding crisis worse and cost the state billions. Voters will get to decide its fate in November.