Californians tired of watching thieves and drug addicts overrun their communities voted overwhelmingly to pass a measure to impose harsher penalties for certain crimes.

Proposition 36, otherwise known as the Drug and Theft Crime Penalties and Treatment-Mandated Felonies Initiative, is not so much a new proposal as a means of modifying a previous one.

Proposition 36 seeks to alter Proposition 47, which passed a decade ago. Under Proposition 47, theft of items worth under $950 could not be prosecuted as a felony, effectively allowing thieves to smash-and-grab their way through drug and big-box stores with little more than a slap on the wrist.

'Retailers were only concerned about their bottom lines and not true criminal sentencing reform.'

Prop 36 promised to change the law to increase the penalties for theft and certain drug crimes, in some cases imposing sentences of up to three years behind bars, depending on a defendant's prior criminal history. It would also make certain drug crimes "treatment-mandated felonies," which means convictions for them can be dismissed in the event an offender completes treatment, the New York Post reported.

Though failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a former U.S. senator from California, declined to say whether she voted in favor of Prop 36, other Democrat leaders and liberal outfits in her home state previously voiced opposition to the measure.

"Prop 36 takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration — it promotes a promise that can’t be delivered," Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed.

The LA Times insisted that Prop 36 would be "disastrous" for the state.

KTLA revealed its disapproval of the bill by suggesting that Californians merely "perceived" a recent increase in crime in their state. The outlet also indicated that those who backed the measure had impure motives.

"Big box stores like Walmart were among the major financial backers of Prop 36—some argued that the retailers were only concerned about their bottom lines and not true criminal sentencing reform," it said.

Still, the measure did enjoy some support from other liberals, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who claimed it would "make targeted but impactful changes to our laws around fentanyl and help us tackle the chronic retail theft that hurts our retailers, our workers, and our cities."

The vast majority of California voters likewise supported Prop 36, which passed with nearly 71% of the 7.6 million ballots cast, according to current totals.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!