Assembly panel passes fentanyl bills. Will it protect Stanislaus residents and kids?

Stanislaus area proponents of legislation for stronger criminal penalties against fentanyl dealers said they received mixed results from a state Assembly committee Thursday.

The Public Safety Committee passed a bill by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, whose district includes Merced County, calling for a felony enhancement for possessing fentanyl and a loaded firearm. Other Democrats on the panel, however, said it needed study and amendments to address concerns of lawmakers who don’t think incarceration is the solution to the fentanyl crisis.

Merced County District Attorney Nicole Silveira testified in favor of Soria’s Assembly Bill 675, which would add fentanyl to the list of addictive drugs in state law that can trigger the firearm enhancement.

The committee also passed Assembly Bill 701, a late addition for Thursday’s hearing. It would upgrade fentanyl to a Schedule I controlled substance, a designation that specifies tougher penalties for trafficking.

Assemblyman Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, the committee’s vice chairman, said he is pleased the two bills were passed out of the committee. “I am disappointed, however, that we could not find common ground on what I consider are very common-sense bills that could further combat the plague of fentanyl raging across our state,” Alanis said in a news release after the hearing.

“While we were unable to find agreement on every bill we heard, I am hopeful that the chair and I will be successful in building consensus around sound policy that will do more to lower the fentanyl deaths we are seeing statewide,” Alanis added.

GOP lawmakers, who are a small minority in the Legislature, recently threatened to force a floor vote on fentanyl legislation after key committees shelved the proposals to increase criminal penalties against fentanyl dealers. The Republicans were backed by protesters who have lost loved ones to fentanyl poisoning.

A bill written by State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, who represents the Modesto area, was passed Wednesday by the Senate public safety committee. It also has a felony enhancement for possessing fentanyl and a loaded firearm with a court sentence of up to four years in prison.

Assembly committee members said they took exception to claims the Legislature is doing nothing about fentanyl, a drug that’s 50 times more potent than heroin and killed more than 5,700 state residents in 2021. More than 20 bills moving in the Legislature would address the crisis mostly through education, substance use treatment and availability of Narcan to reverse overdoses.

Assembly Public Safety Committee Chairman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, said legislation to address fentanyl requires more time and study to prevent unintended consequences and come up with effective measures.

It’s why he wanted to wait to hear from top experts on the fentanyl crisis at a select committee meeting planned in May, he said.

Jones-Sawyer said the criminal justice campaigns against crack cocaine in the 1980s were an overreaction and decimated black communities. “People here can tell you how devastating it was and how devastating it still is today in our community,” he said.

Social justice groups and advocates against mass incarceration lined up to oppose the seven bills at the committee hearing Thursday, which were written by Republicans or moderate Democrats.

Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, agreed for the committee to hold her bill, AB 955, pending further study. The bill includes criminal penalties for selling pills laced with fentanyl on social media to young people who think they’re buying Xanax or oxycodone.

Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, a committee member, said the state should explore ways to hold the giant social media companies accountable for illegal fentanyl sales on their platforms.

Petrie-Norris said she recognized the concerns about drug enforcement laws that have derailed the lives of people who dabbled in drug use. She divulged that 22 years ago, her teenage brother was arrested and charged with a felony after growing two marijuana plants, initiating a long period of bouncing in and out of jail and prison.

People testifying in opposition to some bills said further criminalization of drug use may discourage people from calling for emergency responders to save a user who has overdosed.

Critics of Soria’s gun enhancement bill said the law has been flawed since former Gov. George Deukmejian signed it decades ago. An opponent said prosecutors can seek the additional time in prison for a lawful gun owner caught with a small amount of an illegal drug.

Law enforcement groups say that legislation is needed to close loopholes in criminal law that allow fentanyl dealers to avoid serious prosecution. They add that more recent changes in criminal law shorten the time served for most anyone sent to prison.

Committee votes rejected a Republican bill, AB 367, and another bill written by Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, to increase penalties for possession of at least 28.3 grams of illegal fentanyl, which can equate to a large number of deadly pills. Patterson said under current law, drug dealers with 2,000 fentanyl pills can’t be charged with a felony.

Other bills to create a state fentanyl task force and threat assessment center were approved by the committee.