California Republican lawmakers and parents have joined forces amid the fentanyl crisis to push for more punishment for dealers while the Democratic-led state legislature remains divided on the bill.
Republicans in the assembly attempted to force a vote on “Alexandra’s law,” which would require courts to administer a warning to convicted fentanyl dealers that they are at risk of a murder conviction for a fentanyl-related death. Democratic lawmakers blocked the GOP effort to suspend certain legislative rules to force a vote, with multiple Democrats not voting on Tuesday.
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Some Democrats in the assembly believe the bill’s language is too broad, and others claim the rule would inflate prison populations disproportionately.
“Isn’t it true there are several bills related to the sale, distribution, accountability, and network around fentanyl still to be dealt with on this floor by Sept. 14? And in fact, this body has passed more legislation on fentanyl than any other legislative body in California’s history,” Democratic Assemblyman and Majority Leader Isaac Bryan asked Speaker Pro Tempore Cecilia Aguiar-Curry before the vote, per KCRA 3.
The law was initially introduced by Democratic state Sen. Tom Umberg, but the Senate’s public safety committee struck it down in April. Republican Assemblywoman Diane Dixon relaunched the law in June, this time proposing it as a ballot initiative to make Alexandra’s law a constitutional amendment in California.
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A group of parents with Stop Fentanyl Dealers launched a separate statewide initiative on Tuesday, drafted by Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire, whose office was the first in the state to get a murder conviction for a fentanyl-related death. The initiative would hold fentanyl dealers accountable by issuing harsher prison sentences. To make it onto the November 2024 ballot, the group needs to gather 650,000 signatures.
“What’s said about it is this money could be spent in other areas,” said Mareka Cole, who lost her son to fentanyl. “We don’t know why it’s gotten this far, but here we are, fighting every day.”
