$400M Prop. 36 funding bill debated in Senate

(The Center Square) – Legislation that would allocate $400 million to a tough-on-crime measure in California was discussed during a committee hearing Tuesday morning. Senate Bill 926, the Funding of Proposition 36 Act, spends $400 million of the state’s taxpayer-funded general fund to enforce Prop. 36. No vote occurred on SB 296 on Tuesday morning because the Senate Public Safety Committee, which heard the bill, did not have a quorum. But the panel is expected to later have a quorum and vote on the bill before its meeting ends Tuesday afternoon. California voters passed Prop. 36 in 2024 with more than 68% of the vote. The proposition elevated certain drug and theft-related misdemeanor crimes to felonies, making sentences stricter for those convicted of such crimes. Prop. 36 also made treatment mandatory for certain drug-related crimes and required courts to tell those convicted of drug-related crimes that they are liable t