Over the past 40+ years, the U.S. has developed perhaps the largest, and most expensive, system of mass criminalization and incarceration that has ever existed. In California, large numbers of social justice, legal, labor, faith, and other community organizations have come together to dismantle that system and replace it with more effective forms of community safety. Their efforts have been vigorously opposed by coalitions of law enforcement organizations, corporate advocacy groups, and large corporations.
Below are some of the key bills and ballot measures that have shaped policy in this area. Click on them to learn more about what they did, or could have done, and who supported and opposed them.
2008
This ballot measure sought to expand drug treatment programs for criminal offenders, increase prison and parole rehabilitation programs, and reduce penalties for certain marijuana possession crimes.
Spending in Support
$12.0M
Spending in Opposition
$6.0M
Results
Defeated 59%/41%
Supporters
Spent $12.0 million, with the biggest contributors being:
Bob Wilson
$4.4M
George Soros
$2.2M
Jacob Goldfield
$1.7M
John Sperling
$1.6M
Opponents
Spent $6.0 million, with the biggest contributors being:
Jerry Perenchio
$392K
Meg Whitman
$392K
California Republican Party
$373K
Sycuan Bank of the Kumeyaay Nation
$274K
Save Our Society from Drugs
$180K
California Beer & Beverages Distributors
$157K
2011-12
This bill allowed incarcerated persons who were under 18 years of age at the time of committing an offense for which the prisoner was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) to submit a petition for recall and re-sentencing.
Results
Passed Assembly 41-34
Passed Senate 21-17
Signed by Governor Brown
Supporters
A group of 80 youth justice, labor, legal, faith, social justice, higher education, and other organizations (as of 8/17/12).
Opponents
As of 8/17/12:
California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations
California District Attorneys Association
California Narcotic Officers' Association
California Police Chiefs Association
Crime Victims Action Alliance
Crime Victims United of California
National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers
Sacramento County District Attorney's Office
2012
This ballot measure would have abolished the death penalty and replaced it with a maximum life sentence without the opportunity for parole and allocated $100 million to law enforcement for rape and homicide investigations.
Spending in Support
$13.4M
Spending in Opposition
$625K
Results
Defeated 52%/48%
Supporters
Spent $13.4 million, with the largest contributors being:
Nicholas Pritzker
$1.5M
The Atlantic Advocacy Fund
$1.5M
ACLU of Northern California
$992K
Open Society Policy Center
$739K
Nick McKeown
$649K
Opponents
Spent $625K, with the largest contributors being:
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
$37K
2014
This ballot measure classified certain drug possession and property offenses as misdemeanors instead of felonies, and reinvested the savings in mental health and drug treatment programs, K-12 schools, and services for crime victims.
Spending in Support
$21.0M
Spending in Opposition
$1.0M
Results
Passed 60%/40%
Supporters
Spent $21.0 million, with the largest contributors being:
Fund for Policy Reform
$7.1M
American Civil Liberties Union
$5.0M
Open Society Policy Center
$2.1M
Wayne Hughes, Jr.
$1.8M
Atlantic Advocacy Fund
$1.2M
Opponents
Spent $1.0 million, with most of the funds coming from Peace Officers Research Association of California ($409K) and San Bernardino County Safety Employees’ Benefit Association ($203K).
2015-16
This bill required local law enforcement agencies to report data on racial and identity profiling to the Attorney General’s Office and established a Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board to analyze the data and issue a public report on it.
Results
Passed Senate 26-13
Passed Assembly 43-30
Signed by Governor Brown
Supporters
A group of 67 youth justice, labor, legal, faith, social justice, and other organizations (as of 8/30/15).
Opponents
As of 8/30/15:
California College and University Police Chiefs Association
California Correctional Supervisors Organization
California Narcotic Officers Association
California Police Chiefs Association
California State Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police
Long Beach Police Officers Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Riverside Sheriffs Association
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association
2016
This ballot measure would have abolished the death penalty and made life without the possibility of parole the maximum punishment for murder.
Spending in Support
$22.6M
Spending in Opposition
$19.1M
Results
Defeated 53%/47%
Supporters
Spent $22.6 million, with the largest contributors being:
Opponents
Spent $19.1 million, with the largest contributors being:
*An additional $11.6 million was contributed by individual correctional officers.
2016
This ballot measure increased parole and good behavior opportunities for nonviolent offenses and allowed judges, not prosecutors, to decide whether to try certain youth as adults in court.
Spending in Support
$30.0M
Spending in Opposition
$2.5M
Results
Passed 64%/36%
Supporters
Spent $30.0 million, with the largest contributors being:
Fund for Policy Reform
$8.5M
Governor Brown's Ballot Measure Committee
$5.7M
California Democratic Party
$3.0M
Thomas Steyer
$2.4M
Opponents
Spent $2.5 million, with the largest contributors being:
Unitemized Contributions*
$1.4M
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers' Association Independent Expenditure Committee
$207K
Northwest Business Park LLC
$138K
Association of Deputy District Attorneys
$117K
*99.5% of these contributions were made to the Los Angeles Police Protective League PAC.
2017-18
This bill sought to put additional restrictions on the use of deadly force by police officers.
Results
Passed Assembly 77-0
Died in Senate
Supporters
A group of 85 social justice, labor, legal, faith, and other organizations (as of 6/18/18).
Opponents
19 law enforcement organizations and two municipalities, including (as of 6/18/18):
2017-18
This bill would have established requirements that would have to be met before a law enforcement agency could acquire and use military equipment.
Results
Passed Senate 22-16
Passed Assembly 42-36
Vetoed by Governor Brown
Supporters
A group of 68 social justice and other organizations (as of 8/27/18).
Opponents
As of 8/27/18:
Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
California Police Chiefs Association
Fraternal Order of Police
Long Beach Police Officers Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association
2019-20
This bill ordered the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice to be closed and for the Office of Youth and Community Restoration to be created.
Results
Passed Assembly 54-16
Passed Senate 21-13
Signed by Governor Newsom
2020
This ballot measure would have restricted parole for certain offenders and increased criminal penalties for certain theft and fraud offenses.
Spending in Support
$2.7M
Spending in Opposition
$31.0M
Results
Defeated 62%/38%
Supporters
Spent $2.7 million, with the largest contributors being:
California Grocers Association
$759K
Devin Nunes Campaign Committee
$377K
Riverside Sheriffs Association
$167K
Opponents
Spent $31.0 million, with the largest contributors being:
Brown for Governor
$18.5M
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
$2.8M
Patty Quillin
$2.5M
OSPC, Inc.
$1.2M
Committee for California
$1.1M
2021-22
This bill attempted to address the school-to-prison pipeline by eliminating criminal penalties for “willful disturbance” of a school or school meeting for students and granting a school principal discretion to report an incident to law enforcement if it does not include a firearm and weapon.
Results
Passed Senate 21-12
Died in Assembly
Supporters
Co-sponsored by ACLU California Action, Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, Black Organizing Project, Black Parallel School Board, Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, Disability Rights California, Dolores Huerta Foundation, East Bay Community Law Center, and Public Counsel, and supported by 70 other social justice and other community organizations (as of 6/28/22).
Opponents
20 law enforcement organizations, one school administrator organization, and one “school safety professionals” organization, including (as of 6/28/22):
2024
This ballot measure reversed some of the changes made by Proposition 47 (see above) and increased criminal penalties for certain drug and theft offenses.
Spending in Support
$17.9M
Spending in Opposition
$10.1M
Results
Passed 68%/32%
Supporters
Spent $17.9 million, with the largest contributors being:
$4.2M
7-Eleven
$1.4M
Target
$1.0M
Home Depot
$1.0M
Taylor Fresh Foods
$515K
$515K
Franchise Owner's Association Southern California
$258K
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
$257K
Christian Larsen
$257K
$257K
Opponents
Spent $10.1 million, with the largest contributors being:
Patty Quillin
$2.6M
Million Voter Project Action Fund
$1.8M
Stacy Schusterman
$1.0M
The Heising-Simons Action Fund
$664K
2025-26
This bill makes it a crime for a law enforcement officer to wear a facial covering in the performance of their duties.
Results
Passed Assembly 45-23
Passed Senate 28-11
Signed by Governor Newsom
Supporters
A group of 72 social justice, labor, legal, faith, and other community organizations and municipalities (as of 9/11/25).
Opponents
34 law enforcement organizations, one municipality, and one community organization, including (as of 9/11/25):
2025-26
This bill would have allowed a court to grant pretrial diversion for certain felony offenses.
Results
Passed Senate 21-16
Died in Assembly
Supporters
A group of 39 social justice, legal, and other community organizations (as of 9/8/25).
Opponents
29 law enforcement organizations, 2 municipalities, and one “school safety professionals” organization, including (as of 9/8/25):
2015-2026
There have been numerous bills introduced just within the past decade to incrementally create or increase criminal penalties but, in the aggregate, substantially expand the mass criminalization and incarceration system, including: AB-2369 (2015-16), SB-1323 (2015-16), SB-513 (2017-18), AB-1065 (2017-18), SB-224 (2019-20), AB-1599 (2021-22), AB-2718 (2021-22), AB-2943 (2023-24), AB-1831 (2023-24), AB-1802 (2023-24), AB-1960 (2023-24), AB-1779 (2023-24), AB-1794 (2023-24), AB-1708 (2023-24), AB-2782 (2023-24), AB-3171 (2023-24), SB-982 (2023-24), SB-431 (2025-26), AB-433 (2025-26), and AB-468 (2025-26).
Results
9 bills were passed and signed into law
9 bills failed to pass or were vetoed
2 were still being considered as of 3/5/26
Supporters
Organizations supporting these bills, and the number of bills that they supported, include:
1
Where are we now?
There have been many significant victories in the fight to replace the mass criminalization and incarceration system with more strategic approaches. However, the past two decades have also made it apparent that law enforcement organizations have been granted dramatically outsized political power. Quite clearly, these law enforcement organizations are not content in merely enforcing the law; they insist on making the law. As a result of the combined power of these organizations alongside that of corporate advocacy groups and large corporations, the criminal legal system in California continues to be in desperate need of transformation:
- According to the Sentencing Project, California has 438,997 people in prison, jail, or on probation or parole.
- California has the 7th-worst Black/White incarceration disparity, and the 11th-worst Latino/White disparity, in the country.
- 32% of prisoners in California have life sentences, compared to just 12% nationally.
- About 195 people die each year from interactions with California law enforcement (Public Policy Institute of California).
- Just in 2023, there were 14,444 civilian complaints against the police in California (Office of the Attorney General).
- Despite the criminal legal system’s long track record of ineffectiveness, systemic racism, brutality, and misconduct, California cities and counties continue to funnel massive amounts of money into it (Social Movement Support Lab).
- Meanwhile, non-police-centered community safety programs achieve more meaningful and authentic outcomes with a tiny fraction of the resources provided to police, prison, prosecutors, jails, and courts (Social Movement Support Lab).
