'Sunset provision no more': Aurora Council votes forward increased penalty on retail theft

The Aurora City Council is moving to make its ordinance that increased the penalty on retail theft permanent.

The council on Monday voted to move forward with removing the sunset provision on its retail theft laws.

In 2022, the council required a mandatory minimum jail sentence of three days for anyone convicted of stealing $300 or more from Aurora retailers. The sunset provision would terminate the ordinance two years after it went into effect.

Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky sponsored the original ordinance and requested to remove the sunset provision during Monday’s study session.

Aurora has toughened its penalties against crime. In March, the City Council lowered the threshold for the mandatory minimum sentence for retail theft from $300 to $100.

The ordinance also increased the sentence for repeat offenders to 90 days in jail — up from three days. And in cases where defendants have been convicted of retail theft at least twice, they will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 180 days.

Prosecutors can also combine retail theft cases that would individually be misdemeanors to charge a repeat offender with a felony, which mean a lengthier prison sentence.

Councilmember Alison Coombs balked at removing the sunset provision, arguing there is no data yet to say whether the ordinance is working.

“Why are we removing the sunset clause when there’s no data to tell us if the law is working?” asked Coombs.

Murillo, who also wants to keep the sunset provision, said the city should not rely on observations and anecdotal evidence to determine the effectiveness of a policy.

Aurora is just now creating a separate code for retail theft so that the city can track data on it separately from other cases, according to Jurinsky.

Although sunset provisions typically give the council time to collect data and determine the effectiveness of an ordinance, Mayor Pro Tem Dustin Zvonek argued it is unnecessary.

“The fact that retailers are posting this ordinance in front of their stores is a pretty good indication that it’s helpful, even if it’s just deterring theft,” Zvonek said.

“What won’t show up in the data is the fact that people aren’t stealing because they’re seeing these signs in the city of Aurora and not in other places," he added.

The full council still needs to adopt the sunset's removal.