Californians for Safer Communities reported filing over 900,000 signatures on April 18 in support of an initiative that would make changes to Proposition 47, which California voters approved in 2014 by a vote of 59.6% to 40.4%. Proposition 47 classified certain crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies unless the defendant had prior convictions for murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes; allowed resentencing for those currently serving a prison sentence for any of the offenses that the initiative reduced to misdemeanors; and created the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund to receive appropriations based on savings from the initiative.
The required number of signatures to qualify for the 2024 ballot in California is 546,651—5% of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election.
The proposed initiative would make changes to how the state classifies drug-related and theft crimes.
