The San Francisco District Attorney will keep an eye on certain repeat offenses once Prop. 36 takes effect

After being overwhelmingly approved by voters, Proposition 36 went into effect across California on Wednesday, increasing penalties for certain thefts and drug crimes.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said they will keep an eye on certain repeat offenses once Prop. 36 takes effect across California.

“Starting today, we will keep an eye on individuals convicted of certain types of crimes,” said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. “So for a misdemeanor, petty theft and a drug misdemeanor.”

Jenkins says Prop 36 won’t change many day-to-day decisions in her office, at least not immediately. The new law was primarily intended to curb retail theft.

It will require offenders to commit some violations. So she says the real changes will come over time, as these offenders go back to trial and prosecutors try to convince judges that multiple convictions carry more severe consequences.

“We’re going to add a layer that reinforces what the voters and the people of California have been saying, which is that we need to do more for repeat offender court,” the district attorney told CBS News Bay Area on Wednesday.

Prop. 36 was widely supported by Californianswith the final results showing that almost 70% voted yes. And it was supported by the mayors of San Francisco and San Jose.

“It’s compassionate,” Mayor Matt Mahan said during the campaign. “It does not return us to an era of mass incarceration. But it brings much-needed responsibility back to our society.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected the measure.

“This initiative has nothing to do with retail theft,” Newsom said in October, criticizing Prop 36.

Many public defenders and many criminal justice reform advocates also opposed this, arguing that additional pressure to push people into treatment as an alternative to incarceration would come from relying on unavailable treatment services.

“There is not a single line item in this ballot initiative that creates new funding streams for new treatments,” argued Will Matthews of Californians for Safety and Justice before the vote. “There is already a woeful lack of available treatment.”

“So this is related to drug offenses,” Jenkins said of those concerns. “And right now, almost all of these people have generally been distracted or have warrants and have not shown up in court. So it’s going to take some time for that to even happen and we need to start assessing whether or not there are enough beds.”

So time will tell how Proposition 36 unfolds in actual courtrooms. People hoping for immediate results may have to wait.

“I just want people to temper their expectations about when we will actually see the benefits of Prop. 36 itself in our city,” Jenkins said.