The measure comes in response to an increase in high-profile “smash-and-grab” robberies and the fentanyl crisis.

In California, Proposition 36 would add new penalties for drug and theft offenses and create new sentence enhancements. It seeks to amend Proposition 47, which passed in 2014 to alleviate overcrowding in jails.

Proposition 36, on the November ballot, would unwind portions of a 2014 initiative that reduced most shoplifting and drug possession offenses to misdemeanors that rarely carried jail time. The ballot measure comes as concerns about mass incarceration give way to public anger over property crime and a fentanyl crisis that has plagued the state since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Nearly three-quarters of likely voters said that they will vote “yes” on the ballot measure to reimpose felony charges for certain drug- and theft-related offenses.

As she runs for president, Harris has emphasized her credentials as California's former top law enforcement official. But her campaign declined to answer how she will vote on Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime ballot measure that has divided California Democrats.