California has been hammered over the past few years as the spike in retail theft that started in San Francisco and Los Angeles has spread across the state, prompting the creation of task forces, legislative hearings, and promises of a crackdown by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA).

California prosecutors and business leaders have blamed some of the state’s “toothless” laws for the jump in offenses, saying the problem has only gotten worse because offenders know they’ll be back on the street in hours, if not minutes.

Residents, frustrated with rising prices and lengthy wait times at stores for employees to unlock cabinets so they can purchase everyday items such as deodorant and toothpaste, have said they want to see changes made to Proposition 47, a decade-old ballot measure that classifies nonviolent property crimes that do not exceed $950 in value as misdemeanors.

The criminal penalty for nonviolent retail theft is typically up to six months of jail time, but critics claim that only a few offenders ever serve their full sentences, and many do not even show up to court. Proposition 47 also fails to target repeat offenders, critics have complained.

For a while, lawmakers ignored the problem. Now, under a national microscope and with big businesses relocating, they are desperate for a fix.

Newsom, a Democrat, announced a package of bills that addressed retail theft this month.

“Building on California’s existing laws and record public safety investments, I’m calling for new legislation to expand criminal penalties for those profiting on retail theft and auto burglaries,” he said. “These laws will make California safer and bolster police and prosecutor tools to arrest and hold professional criminals accountable.”

While Newsom’s proposals would not amend Proposition 47, they would propose new penalties for people who steal items and then try to resell them. He has proposed changes to existing laws allowing police officers to arrest suspects of retail crime even if they did not witness the crime in progress. He also has called for a clarification of the penal code that allows law enforcement to combine the value of multiple thefts to reach the threshold for grand theft and wants to extend the organized retail crime statute, a tool that has been effectively used by the California Highway Patrol and set to expire in 2026.

Last year, Newsom announced the largest-ever investment to combat organized retail crime in the state’s history, a 310% increase in operations targeting organized retail crime and improving public safety.

New numbers from the CHP’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force released Tuesday suggest that things are heading in a positive direction. 

The CHP has recovered 320,000 pieces of merchandise from nearly 550 investigations. The agency also made 1,301 arrests and returned over $10 million in stolen goods.

“It’s absolutely progress,” CHP Officer Andrew Barclay said, adding that some of the arrests include “people far up the chain.”

In Sacramento County, District Attorney Thien Ho announced Tuesday that his office has created a retail theft prosecution unit with a devoted full-time investigator and a prosecutor who will see cases through to completion.

Ho added that having people work on cases “vertically” will keep them invested in what happens and go a long way in cutting down on retail theft. Ho’s office is working with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Sacramento Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, trade associations, and businesses in the area.

The program had a soft launch two months ago and has filed 35 criminal cases.

Still, others have complained that turning to the authorities for help has been a mixed bag.

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Lynn Melillo, who sits on the board of the California Grocers Association, said at a hearing last month that their “biggest” spending goes to security guards.

“It feels like there [are no consequences],” she said. “We feel we stand alone because we do call the police … they’re not always responsive.”