Newsom says no to Prop. 36 funding

California voters passed Prop. 36 by a landslide, demanding tougher penalties for repeat drug and theft offenses. But Governor Gavin Newsom has refused to fund the new law. He wants local governments to fund it, after openly opposing the measure last November.

The Facts

Governor Gavin Newsom has decided not to fund Prop 36, citing budget constraints in next year's California State budget.

Proposition 36, passed in November 2024 with 68% support, allows prosecutors to charge repeat drug and theft offenders with felonies, and lets judges mandate treatment instead of prison time. It partially rolls back 2014’s Prop. 47, which had downgraded many low-level offenses to misdemeanors.

The Context

Supporters of Prop. 36, including prosecutors, local elected officials, and retail groups, requested $250–$400 million in annual state funding. But the problem was, it was just a request. The bill itself did not include any dedicated funding source. So Newsom allocated nothing in his budget, pointing to the state’s $12 billion deficit and arguing that local officials who backed the measure should find the money themselves. Without more funding, counties cannot scale up probation and treatment services, undermining the law’s promise to offer alternatives to incarceration.

The State Legislature provided a different budget than Newsom’s, with $110 million in one-time funding to local governments to support the implementation of Prop 36. This funding includes $50 million for behavioral health, $30 million for courts, and $15 million for public defenders. But even state lawmakers acknowledge that this is not enough. DA offices across the state are already filing 1,700–2,600 Prop. 36 felony cases each month, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

The GrowSF Take

Governor Newsom should fund Prop 36.

Californians overwhelmingly voted for it because it is a promising approach to the drug and mental health crisis on our streets. Prop 36 finally gives cities the policy tools they need to get people off the streets and into treatment. Before this, there were very few legal tools to get a person addicted to drugs into treatment.

Newsom should not cut Prop 36 out of the state budget because it costs way more to let mentally ill people and people addicted to drugs ricochet through emergency rooms. Our analysis found that 57% of homelessness costs in San Francisco came from emergency rooms / urgent care from 2007-2015.