Californians overwhelmingly voted to restore felony penalties for repeat thieves and deadly drug dealers, but Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget offers nothing to enforce the law — while finding $1 billion for a bullet train mired in delays and cost overruns.

Yes it is true.

In 2014, California voters approved Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, pitched to voters as a way to reduce prison overcrowding, conserve resources and focus on violent offenders.

Authored by then-San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón (no surprise), Prop 47 was backed by Californians for Safety and Justice, the ACLU of California, the NAACP, the Drug Policy Alliance, and other reform donors.

Its goal was to reclassify non-violent offenses — such as drug possession and theft of property worth less than $950 — from felonies to misdemeanors, and redirect the prosecutorial savings into education, mental health and victim services.

Over the next decade, however, the political narrative began to shift.

While some crime categories remained stable, high-profile incidents of “smash-and-grab” retail theft, organized shoplifting rings, and open drug use in public spaces captured media attention and fueled a perception that California had become too soft on crime.

By the early 2020s, viral videos of thieves brazenly clearing out store shelves and walking past powerless employees circulated nationwide.

Business groups, retail associations, and law enforcement officials began lobbying lawmakers to address what........

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