California to get tough on retail thefts
California voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, which would increase penalties for theft and drug offenses.
With 42 percent of the vote in around 1 am on Wednesday, the yes votes were 5,286,658, or 70.6 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times website. The no votes totaled 2,202,698, or 29.4 percent.
The highly publicized proposition, also known as the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, was put on Tuesday's ballot through a petition signed by members of the public. It aims to fix a loophole in a controversial 2014 law.