In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to take action to address how overfilled the California prison system had become. At the time of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 decision, the California prison system housed nearly twice as many people it was intended to house, violating prisoners’ eighth amendment rights. To comply with the U.S. Constitution, exercise fiscal responsibility, and improve the prison system without compromising public safety, Californian voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014 to reduce mass incarceration.

Prop 47 reclassified six minor felony offenses to misdemeanors, including shoplifting and simple drug possession. These reduced prison sentences led to the federally required reductions in prison population.

Because incarceration is very expensive (over $100,000 per person annually), the funds that had previously been used for incarceration have instead for the past ten years been used towards public safety programming.  This programming includes K-12 programming for at-risk kids, drug and mental health treatment, homelessness prevention, and victim services centers. Prop 36 would strip approximately $100 million annually in funding for drug treatment, housing, and school-based programs while costing taxpayers an additional $5 billion a year for jails and prisons.

Prop 36 jeopardizes California's future.  Prop 36 invests in punitive systems that have been proven to not make communities safety, while simultaneously defunding the social safety net programs that make our communities healthier.