California’s top Democratic leadership is trying to subvert a citizen-led initiative to reform aspects of a controversial law called Prop 47 that loosened penalties for theft and drug possession statewide. If they succeed, they will force voters to choose between the reform of Prop 47 and a slate of new anti-crime bills — ensuring the state remains incapable of effectively addressing endemic serial shoplifting. Newly leaked emails between the Governor’s office and the initiative’s leader show Newsom’s complicity in a backdoor scheme by Assembly lawmakers to kill a package of new anti-crime bills if voters approve the initiative to reform 47 in November.

We’ll explain exactly what this means below, and why it’s so troubling. But first, let’s define some key terms:

• Prop 47 is a 2014 law that downgraded a handful of crimes (including theft of goods worth less than $950 and personal drug possession) from felonies to misdemeanors. The law’s proponents promised it would improve public safety by redirecting a portion of money otherwise spent on incarceration toward school truancy prevention programs, substance abuse treatment, and victim support services. But a decade after its approval, overdose deaths have skyrocketed, serial shoplifting has become commonplace statewide, and chronic absenteeism at the state’s schools continues to rise.

• The “citizen-led initiative to reform Prop 47” is the “Homeless, Drug Addiction, and Retail Theft Reduction Act,” a proposition that would effectively repeal Prop 47 by reinstating felony charges for repeat theft offenders who steal under $950 worth of goods, authorizing harsher penalties for selling deadly amounts of fentanyl, and offering treatment in lieu of jail time for those repeatedly found in possession of hard drugs like fentanyl or meth. Since the proposition has received over 900,000 certified signatures — far more than the required ~550,000 — it will appear on the ballot in November. If passed, it would take effect immediately.

• The “package of new anti-crime bills” are 14 bills state lawmakers have proposed this legislative term to curb retail theft and drug trafficking. These include AB-2943, which would make it easier to prosecute repeat instances of shoplifting across jurisdictions, AB-1845, which would expand the California Highway Patrol’s ability to tackle cargo theft, and AB-3209, which would allow retailers to seek restraining orders against thieves who assault their employees, among others. Democrat leaders opposed to reforming Prop 47 claim these bills are enough to tackle the retail and property theft that has become pervasive statewide; advocates for repealing Prop 47 argue the two would work in tandem, and that the package alone is not sufficient to address California’s serial theft crisis since it doesn’t allow the state to effectively prosecute those who repeatedly steal merchandise worth less than $950.

Now, here’s where the backdoor dealings come in: