Large-scale, organized retail thefts, which often involve mobs of people rushing into stores and swiping items in plain sight, have devastated California businesses in recent years. These brazen crimes have led to significant financial losses for retailers and created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity for shoppers and employees alike. In response to this escalating crisis, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bipartisan package of 10 bills on August 16 that aims to reduce heinous retail robberies and property crimes, creating stricter penalties for repeat offenders and people running professional reselling schemes.

“These bills will strengthen existing laws. They’ll enhance other laws, and they will address the challenges that are well outside the purview of previous initiatives and laws,” Newsom said at a news conference. “That’s the issue of organized retail theft, the issue of serial theft, the issue that is front and center in the consciousness of so many Californians.” The package of bills also includes new laws that crack down on thefts from vehicles and on online marketplaces where stolen goods are resold.

The move comes after retailers have called on local and federal governments to do more to combat the surge in organized retail theft, citing it as a growing challenge that’s impacted profits, customers and staff. In San Diego, 53-year-old mom of three Michelle Mack was recently arrested for running a makeup theft crime ring called the “California Girls” that stole millions from cosmetic chain Ulta.

“This is a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme. It was complex. It was orchestrated,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in announcing the charges. “We are not talking about garden-variety shoplifting.”

One of the bills in the package, SB 1416, establishes stricter penalties for middlemen like Mack in organized retail crime rings.

“It’s necessary to account for just how easy it is to recruit people to go steal for you, and then just how easy and profitable it is to then clean this stuff up and sell it,” said state Senator Josh Newman, who introduced the bill.

SB 1416 extends this sentencing based on the value of the stolen goods. If a person sells, exchanges or returns stolen goods worth more than $50,000, for example, an additional year will be added to their sentence. Prior to the law’s passage, those charged with being involved in organized retail crime rings could face up to three years in prison.

Additional bills passed in this package include:

• AB 2943: Allows felony charges on the third theft offense, aggregates dollar amounts and expands drug diversion programs
• AB 3209: Allows a court to impose a restraining order for up to two years against a person who has stolen, vandalized or committed battery against an employee (but requires the court to consider whether a person lives in a “food desert” and whether the store is the only location for necessities)
• AB 1779: Allows prosecutors to charge several offenses that took place across counties and handle them in a single court
• AB 1802: Makes the California Highway Patrol (CHP) property crimes task force permanent
• AB 1972: Expands the CHP’s property crimes task force program to include cargo theft and railroad police
• SB 905: Creates two new “wobbler” offenses that can be charged as felonies or misdemeanors — breaking into a car with the intent to steal and possessing property stolen from a car worth at least $950 with the intent to sell it
• SB 1242: Gives a tougher sentence to people convicted of setting a fire on a retailer’s property to commit organized theft
• SB 1144: Requires online marketplaces to collect information from high-volume, third-party sellers and grants authority to district attorneys to bring civil actions to enforce violations
• SB 982: Removes an end date on the crime of organized retail theft, allowing prosecution to occur indefinitely

While the passage of these bills is certainly much needed, it may be too little, too late for stores that have already experienced the devastating effects of these shameless crimes. In South Los Angeles, smash-and-grab burglars raided the Rich LA clothing & SNKRS store three times over the summer, stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise. “It’s just unbelievable,” an employee told CBS after the third robbery. “I still can’t understand it. People are going to sell [the items] on the streets because this stuff costs a lot of money.”

Since January, the CHP’s special retail crime task force has made nearly 900 arrests and recovered more than 250,000 stolen items valued at more than $7.2 million, according to the governor’s press release.

“While these bills in theory are great, Newsom has witnessed a steady organized retail crime problem in California for nearly two decades,” Hitha Herzog, chief research officer at H Squared Research, told the New York Post in a statement. “If these bills had been introduced when Newsom took office in 2010, the issues we are now seeing in downtown San Francisco, Los Angeles and beyond would have been mitigated.”

While the passing of these new laws is certainly a step forward, their true impact will depend on how well they are enforced and the sustained collaboration among all stakeholders to address these escalating crimes.

“The impact of retail theft extends far beyond financial losses — it’s a direct threat to public safety and community well-being,” LAAPOA President Marshall McClain says. “While these new laws represent a crucial step forward, their success hinges on thorough execution and ongoing collaboration between law enforcement, businesses and the public. We must commit to these efforts if we want to see real, lasting change in our communities.”