California Democrat opposed stronger fentanyl penalties. Now he wants $5B to fight overdoses

A top California Democrat who opposed a Republican-led push to create stronger penalties for fentanyl dealers is seeking billions of state dollars to combat overdose deaths.

Assembly Public Safety Committee Chair Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, is seeking $5.2 billion in bond funding for what he calls a “comprehensive approach, instead of a bill-by-bill approach” to California’s fentanyl overdose crisis.

Assembly Public Safety Committee Vice Chair Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, co-authored Assembly Bill 1510, which would allocate $2 billion for substance abuse treatment and $400 million for harm reduction programs. Another $200 million would go toward efforts to prevent overdoses, including kits to test drugs for fentanyl and supplies to help drug users consume substances more safely.

The bond would also provide $2 billion to expand programs that teach young people about recreational drug use risks and provide treatment and psychological support in schools.

An additional $500 million would go toward targeting “high level drug traffickers” and funding substance abuse treatment in prisons and juvenile facilities. It would also pay for housing and treatment for young people newly released from prison.

The final $100 million would underwrite research on “emerging drugs” like xylazine, also known as tranq, a dangerous sedative that dealers have been cutting into fentanyl.

“We’re poking at the problem,” Jones-Sawyer said. “I want to go ahead and knock it out once and for all.”

Jones-Sawyer and Alanis gutted an existing unrelated bill and amended it with bond measure language to circumvent legislative deadlines.

Republicans hit Democrats on fentanyl

More than 7,100 Californians died from opioid overdoses in 2021, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. About 83% of those fatalities were related to fentanyl, an especially potent, cheap opioid that dealers cut into other drugs to make them stronger.

Some customers purchase a drug they do not know contains fentanyl, causing the overdose.

Jones-Sawyer has faced criticism from Republicans and moderate Democrats for opposing bills that would create harsher punishments for fentanyl dealers. He and some Democrats have been wary of lengthening prison time for those involved in the opioid trade, citing the failed war on drugs in the 1980s and 1990s that resulted in the mass incarceration of Black and brown Californians.

This spring, outrage from Republicans and some Democrats pushed Jones-Sawyer into hearing several fentanyl-related bills he originally didn’t want to see presented in his committee.

The only penalty-related measure committee members advanced was a bill from Assemblyman Carlos Villapudua, D-Stockton, that would apply sentencing enhancements that already exist for other drug crimes to fentanyl dealers.

Jones-Sawyer said Villapudua’s bill represents one element of an overall strategy the state needs to employ to fight substance abuse.

“I think I did a horrible job at translating and getting not only my Republican colleagues to understand, but some of my moderate colleagues to understand, that (there) has to be a comprehensive war on fighting fentanyl,” Jones-Sawyer said. “And we have to unite both programs, both ideologies.”

He said a May meeting of the Select Committee on Fentanyl, Opioid Addiction, and Overdose Prevention and the Assembly Public Safety and Health committees helped shape the specifics of the bond.

“We discovered that there are some great programs out there, but they may not have the necessary funding to be as effective as they need to be,” Jones-Sawyer said.

Bond rush in the Legislature

The assemblyman must contend with a particularly bond-happy Legislature that has produced about a dozen bills asking voters to approve billions of dollars in spending for climate change, education and affordable housing.

Should lawmakers approve AB 1510, Jones-Sawyer — together with legislative leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom — will need to decide between placing it on the March primary or November general election ballot.

So far, the bill does not have any registered opposition. The Senate Health Committee approved it on July 5 with 10 votes in favor, and Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakerfield, as the only ‘no’ vote. Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Huntington Beach, chose not to vote.

AB 1510 is currently awaiting a hearing in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. An urgency clause added before the month-long summer recess will allow Jones-Sawyer to present the measure even after the July 14 deadline for policy committees to meet and report out bills, said Richard Garcia, the assemblyman’s spokesman.

Jones-Sawyer said he thinks the bond is “almost a fait accompli” once it goes before voters.

“We do have to make sure that everyone has skin in the game to get this done — that everyone’s on board,” he said. “I just feel that doing a bond and having voters vote for it, that is really the best way. It’s a good way to use taxpayers’ money, because if they’re willing to go and vote for this, that means it is a priority for them.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "California Democrat opposed stronger fentanyl penalties. Now he wants $5B to fight overdoses."