Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Tuesday that combats retail theft and porch piracy, while attacking “leftist jurisdictions” such as California and New York for failing to implement policies that address these crimes.
“Many leftist jurisdictions are enacting policies that ignore retail theft or even encourage it. Those policies are dead on arrival in Florida. We catch criminals and prosecute them,” DeSantis posted on X.
The legislation, set to take effect July 1, will impose stricter penalties for people who steal retail items, swipe packages off porches, and use social media to incite looting. These offenses will mostly be punishable as felonies.
Before the bill was enacted, Florida had seen a 30 percent decrease in shoplifting since DeSantis took office five years ago. By contrast, shoplifting increased by 63 percent in New York City since 2019 and 81 percent in Los Angeles since 2022. The lenient policies that these cities put in place have forced many retailers to lock products in plastic cases amid rising crime.
“You look at a place like California, they passed Proposition 47 that allows people that commit retail theft to be charged with misdemeanor, even if it had traditionally been a felony. That means they get numerous retail-theft offenses. Did they get held accountable? No, they get a slap on the wrist,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Stuart, Fla., where he signed H.B. 549 into law.
“You look at New York, they eliminated cash bail for many offenses, including offenses for retail theft, so that now you can only get a felony theft charge if you steal more than $1,000 worth of merchandise; anything less, you get a desk-appearance ticket that has caused people to loot stores and do $999 worth of looting. And then they leave knowing that they’re not going to be held accountable,” the Republican governor added.
In 2022 alone, retailers nationwide lost $112 billion due to various means of retail loss, including retail theft; $4 billion of that amount came from New York that year, according to DeSantis. Florida seeks to do its part in cutting down on further retail losses through the new legislation.
“Florida is a law-and-order state, and our policies combating organized retail theft are another shining example of how we are leading the nation,” Florida attorney general Ashley Moody said in a statement.
H.B. 549 serves the following penalties: a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, if criminals commit retail theft with five or more individuals; a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, if criminals commit retail theft with five or more people and solicit others to participate in the theft via social media; and a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, if a criminal commits retail theft with a firearm or with at least two prior convictions of retail theft.
The bill also institutes several porch-piracy punishments: a first-degree misdemeanor for theft of property worth less than $40; a third-degree felony in the event of a subsequent violation; and a third-degree felony for theft of property valued at $40 or more.