In Elise Cox’s Mendolocal.news report about a Board of Supervisors discussion of Mendocino County’s CORE (Community Outreach Response & Engagement) program last Wednesday, District Attorney David Eyster is quoted telling the Supervisors that Proposition 36 — approved by voters statewide in 2024 — is successful in addressing repeat drug and theft offenses [our emphasis], but criticized the state for failing to fund the treatment and rehabilitation components required by the law [our emphasis]. Since the law took effect in December 2024, Eyster said his office has filed cases against 134 defendants for repeat drug offenses and about 80 defendants for serial theft. “This passed in all 58 counties,” Eyster said. “Yet the state is refusing to fund the rehabilitation side. That’s a serious problem.”
Chief Probation Officer Izen Locatelli agreed, saying that Probation has conducted more than 100 assessments under Proposition 36 but “emphasized the lack of funding [our emphasis] and accountability mechanisms.”
The DA says that Proposition 36 has resulted in 134 cases filed against defendants for repeat drug offenses… Outcome? No info. All plead guilty? We don’t know. All denied treatment? We don’t know. Mr. Locatelli agrees with the DA, sort of, saying that there’s no funding for … ? We don’t know. If the DA filed charges against 214 (total) defendants charged under Prop 36, why were only 100 or so assessments done? We don’t know. Were there overlaps? We don’t know.
Two years ago, law enforcement, including Sheriff Kendall, told the public that if Prop 36 passed it would bring down the number of drug and petty theft crimes (many of which are linked to drug abuse) by fixing what law enforcement said was wrong with Prop 47 which let repeat drug and theft defendants get off with misdemeanors and no serious consequences. Prop 36 made repeat drug or theft crimes chargeable as felonies, giving law enforcement more leverage in dealing with these cases and (hopefully) convincing some of them to enter treatment rather than go to prison.
On Wednesday, Sheriff Kendall said on KZYX radio: “Proposition 36 has convinced a lot of people to change their lives.”
We have asked the Sheriff several times for the stats on this, both in the years before Prop 36 went into effect in December of 2024, and afterwards for comparison. Have arrests for former misdemeanor drug and theft cases really gone down? So far, despite assurances that he has the data (from arrest records and for those being released with re-entry plans) and would provide it, the Sheriff has not provided any data. You might think that if Prop 36 was producing the promised measurable results, not only would there be convincing data to back it up, but they’d be eager to provide it.
In addition, all the local law enforcement panelists at Tuesday’s Supervisors presentation cited the lack of treatment funding as the reason for … what? Failure of Prop 36 to produce results? For Mendo’s failure to provide treatment facilities and services? Are we to conclude that Prop 36 would have worked if treatment funding was available and that most of those Prop 36 arrests would have resulted in treatment but the treatment was denied for lack of funding?
The trouble with this convenient “lack of funding” excuse is that it’s just not true.
As of the last Measure B financial report (dated November 2025), there’s been over $51 million of Measure B sales tax revenue plus well over $2.4 million in interest earned against about $10 million in expenses, leaving a $33.5 million fund balance. This does not include about $10 million allocated to the soon to be opened Psychiatric Health Facility on Whitmore Lane outside Ukiah.
That’s well over $20 million of Measure B money sitting in County coffers unspent. There’s no plan for it to be spent, despite Measure B’s very specific requirement that at least 25% of it be spent on mental health and drug abuse treatment services. (All the residual on-going 1/8-cent revenues are supposed to go to services too.)
We’re tired of hearing that law enforcement and mental health and Probation and even the public defender are unable to demonstrate measurable improvements when they not only have the tools they wanted in Proposition 36, but they have more than enough money — and a requirement of Measure B — to provide treatment to a few dozen local frequent flyers. (I.e., whatever fraction of those “assessed” defendants would accept treatment.)
Granted, there are some frequent flyers (repeat offenders) who won’t accept treatment. But for those who will, the public has given local officials the legal tools and the funding they asked for.
The assessments are being done. The candidates for treatment are being identified. Millions of Measure B dollars are available. Presumably our judges are explaining to Prop 36 defendants that they can enter treatment to avoid felony charges and prison.
No more excuses. Do your jobs. And show us the data.
Good Morning, 😘👮♂️🌦️
Mark is right, there’s no data, and there’s money available for treatment.
Why and where this falls apart is what actually happens after people are arrested or assessed, and who we’re mostly talking about.
A lot of the people cycling through Prop 36 and CORE are homeless. Many also live with serious mental illness and addiction which means dual diagnosis. You can’t treat addiction without treating mental illness at the same time and expect anything to change.
What happens instead is a loop.
Arrest.
Assessment.
Release.
Repeat.
That’s likely why the data never shows up. Without treatment that addresses both mental illness and addiction, and without housing to stabilize people while that happens, there isn’t much to measure beyond repeat contact.
So the “lack of funding” excuse does not hold. Measure B money exists. Sorry but this isn’t mainly a crime problem it’s homelessness and untreated serious mental illness being managed through law enforcement because there’s nowhere else for people to go.
If Prop 36 and CORE are working, show the outcomes.
If they aren’t, stop pretending they are.
Show us how many people have entered and completed Assisted outpatient treatment/Laura’s law.
The only info we see to track is whom and how many times an individual is arrested.
mm💕