Vice President Kamala Harris continues to avoid taking a stance on the highly popular California Proposition 36 that would toughen crime penalties.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Harris, a registered voter in California, told reporters Thursday that “she hasn’t yet read through the entire ballot” and dodged taking a stance on Proposition 36.
If adopted, the proposition would establish increased penalties for some drug charges and certain theft counts, as Breitbart News reported. If passed, perpetrators previously convicted of burglary, shoplifting, or grand theft auto would be subject to felony charges if they are charged with thefts of $950 or less.
“Proposition 36 allows felony sentences for theft or damage of property to be lengthened by up to three years if three or more people committed the crime together,” the California Legislative Analysis Office (LAO) noted.
It also mandates “courts to warn people that they could be charged with murder if they sell or provide illegal drugs that kill someone,” per the LAO.
Proposition 36 would largely roll back Proposition 47, which implemented softer crime punishments a decade ago when Harris was the state’s attorney general. While Harris did not officially endorse Proposition 47, she was responsible for approving its text. However, some Harris allies supported the measure, as the Los Angeles Times noted.
Thursday marked the second time Harris and her campaign skirted questions regarding the measure to toughen these criminal offenses. In September, she declined to field questions from the Los Angeles Times on how she would vote on Proposition 36.
Harris’s silence comes as the vast majority of Californians plan to vote in favor of the measure.
A Public Policy Institute of California poll conducted October 7-15 finds that 73 percent of all likely voters in the state support the measure. This breaks down to 67 percent of Democrats, 86 percent of Republicans, and 72 percent of independents.
A quarter of likely voters do not support Proposition 36, while two percent are undecided.
PPIC sampled 1,137 likely voters, and the margin of error is ± 3.7 percentage points.
