Capitol Democrats Block Effort to Do Something on Fentanyl Crisis

SACRAMENTO – Today, one day ahead of National Fentanyl Awareness Day, Assembly Democrats again blocked common-sense proposals to crack down on fentanyl traffickers profiting off poisoning Californians. With more than 100 Californians dying every week because of fentanyl, Democrats embraced the ongoing crisis by refusing to consider bipartisan proposals to hold dealers accountable. 

“The fentanyl epidemic is killing more and more Californians each day, but Democrats refuse to do anything serious to end the carnage,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (Yuba City). “Fentanyl is not a drug – it’s a weapon of mass destruction. Democrats’ continued refusal to crack down on the traffickers is further confirmation they are only looking out for criminals, not public safety.” 

Following a hearing in which Democrats on the Assembly Public Safety Committee killed multiple bills to increase punishments for fentanyl traffickers, Assembly Republicans moved to take the bills up for a vote by the full Assembly. On a party-line vote, Democrats blocked the effort, ensuring the bills would remain stalled. 

The bills blocked by Democrats were: 

• AB 367 (Maienschein) – add a sentencing enhancement for fentanyl dealers who kill or seriously injure someone with the poison they sell
• AB 955 (Petrie-Norris) – increase penalties for selling fentanyl via social media
• AB 1058 (Jim Patterson) – increase penalties for possessing more than an ounce of fentanyl, enough to kill 14,000 people

###