| God, this is such a tired take. I see it all the time, usually referencing how California is weak on crime, yada yada yada. California, in fact, has one of the lowest felony theft thresholds out of any of the states. In fact, it has the 10th lowest felony threshold in the union. [1] It was actually Oklahoma who started the trend to increase the felony threshold in the early 2000s. Newsom passed the bill you referenced so that minimum wage workers aren’t playing security for their employers. This bill did not raise the felony threshold. Do you want to know which states have the highest felony theft thresholds? It’s Texas and Wisconsin at $2500. In 2010, California went from a threshold of $400 to $950. In 2015, Texas went from a threshold of $1500 to $2500, so California’s threshold has always been much lower even in the recent past. [2] So no, California has not actually been any sort of trendsetter when it comes to felony theft thresholds, but it certainly is a convenient bogeyman. [1] https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/felony-thef... [2] https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-bri... |