A measure to reform California’s crime referendum that downgrades penalties for petty theft and drug possession will be on the ballot in November after garnering an "unheard of" number of signatures.Under Prop 47, petty theft of goods valued under $950 is classified as a misdemeanor, even for multiple offenses. It also took a broad swath of narcotics possession offenses that were previously felonies and converted them to misdemeanors.
"So there are a number of things that kind of interplay together here, and I think people see a public safety crisis. And as a result of that, people were standing in line waiting up to half an hour, an hour to sign the petition," Ho said.Two Democratic progressive mayors in two of California’s biggest cities — San Francisco Mayor London Breed and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan — endorsed the reform campaign earlier this year.