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| The Year of 1991
Crime rates peak and start decreasing all across the nation, including California. |
| June 29, 1992
3-Strikes initial outline drafted after the killing of Kimber Reynolds |
| Early 1993
Mike Reynolds has Bill Jones, Republican Assemblyman from the Fresno area, sponsor Assembly Bill 971. |
| April 20, 1993
Reynolds and four bus-loads of supporters show up for the first hearing on AB 971 before the Assembly Public Safety Committee. The committee soundly defeated the bill. |
| Summer of 1993
Reynolds decides to by-pass the legislature and use the initiative process. The going is slow and prior to Oct. 1, 1993, despite financial backing from the NRA and the CCPOA, Reynolds has obtained only 20,000 signatures. |
| October 1, 1993
Repeat offender Richard Allen Davis kidnaps Polly Klaas. Polly's parents respond immediately by getting a video of Polly in the public spotlight. Unfortunately, Polly was later found murdered. Reynolds visits Marc Klaas, Polly's father, and obtains his signature on a petition. Within a few days, Reynolds has gained an additional 50,000 signatures and the initiative becomes the fastest qualifying voter initiative in California history. Marc Klaas later withdrew his support of the initiative. |
| Early 1994
Reynolds approaches the legislature with a choice: pass AB 971 or the voters will do it for you. |
| Spring of 1994
Despite four alternative 3-Strike proposals, Governor Pete Wilson and Reynolds push through AB 971 (the most draconian alternative) and get it passed without any amendments. In an election year, Wilson and Reynolds threatened to call anybody who stood in the way of the bill as "soft on crime." The legislators got "out of the way of the train," and it was easily passed. |
| March, 1994
The 3-Strikes law was enacted by Assembly Bill 971 (Jones/Costa, Chapter 12, Statutes of 1994--Cal. Penal Code Sec. 667). |
| Fall of 1994
Fearful that the legislature might someday amend the 3-Strikes law, Reynolds takes back his word and puts through the public initiative. Reynolds eventually collected $880,000 to help pass his initiative. The opponents, with little ability to obtain funding, could do little to get out their message. |
| September 14, 1994
Thomas G. Cargill, found guilty of car theft, became the first person in Orange County to be convicted under the 3-Strikes law. OC-Register, 9/15/94. |
| November 8, 1994
The 3-Strikes law was reenacted by the voters by the passage of Proposition 184. The vote was 72% for enactment and 28% against. |
| June 20, 1996
Romero: The California Supreme Court unanimously stated that judges have the right to disregard prior convictions if they think a mandatory prison sentence would be too cruel. "3-strikes cases proving costly" by Stuart Pfeifer, 6/10/96, Metro 1 and 4. |
| July 16, 1996
AB331, sponsored by Rob Hurtt, R-Garden Grove, a bill that passed the Assembly by a 56-19 vote--to plug the loopholes in the 3-Strike sentencing statute because of the Romero decision--died in the Criminal Procedures Committee of the Senate where it received only one vote (Sen. Ross Johnson, R- Irvine). Three Democrats and an independent voted against the measure. Hurtt immediately vowed to back a ballot initiative to restore the original intent of the law or make it even tougher. "'3 strikes' repair law scuttled," by Daniel M. Weintraub, OC-Register, 7/17/96, page 1. |
| September 9, 1996
Coalition to Amend 3-Strikes came together. Mother's ROC in Los Angeles is the primary group to get things moving. |
| May 17, 1997
OC-FACTS (previously known as Orange County Residents to Amend 3-Strikes) sponsors a Town Hall meeting in the City of Orange. |
| May 24, 1997
OC-FACTS hands out information at Laguna Beach. |
| May 30, 1997
OC-FACTS and Students Advocating Truth in Justice have a demonstration at the UCI campus. |
| June 4, 1997
SB1317 was defeated on a 13-25 vote as 10 Democrats, including the party's two top leaders, sided with Republicans in opposing the bill. "Lawmakers refuse to narrow list of felonies for '3-strikes'," by Steve Lawrence, OC-Register, Associated Press, 6/5/97. |
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| Chronology of events from 1991 through December of 1998 |
| January 14, 1998 | | November 3, 1998 | | October 28, 1998 | | October 17, 1998 | | October 11, 1998 | | October 3 and 4, 1998 | | September 20, 1998 | | September 5, 1998 | | September 2, 1998 | | August 6, 1998 | | More » |
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