California State Senators Suzette Martinez Valladares and Steven Choi are raising concerns that AB 2691, while barring individuals convicted of human trafficking or sexual assault from running for elected office, would exempt those convicted of certain sexual abuse offenses, including some involving children.
The changes to AB 2691 were made by the chair of the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, Sen. Wiener (D-San Francisco). The measure's author, Asm. Addis, had to accept them or see her bill die. Conversely, when confronted with the same demand by Sen. Weiner, the author of a similar bill, AB 2753 (Soria, D-Fresno), chose to let her bill die rather than accept the amendments.
"AB 2691 originally did what common sense demands: bar convicted criminals, including sex offenders from holding public office,” said Sen. Valladares (R-Santa Clarita). “Then Sacramento Democrats gutted the bill's protections and created a loophole so large that people convicted of the most heinous crimes against children can still run for office and serve in positions of public trust.”
Assembly Bill 2691 (Addis, D-Morro Bay) will come up on the Senate Floor before the August 31 legislative deadline, and California Senate Republicans have filed amendments to eliminate the exemptions and restore the bill to its original intent.
The changes made to AB 2691 in the Senate Elections Committee now exclude sex offenses that require 10 or 20 years of registration. This means persons convicted of sexual crimes – including sodomizing, orally copulating, or sexually penetrating a child – would remain eligible to hold public office, including local school boards.
Click HERE for the analysis of AB 2691.
“Serving in elected office is a privilege and an honor that should never be extended to pedophiles, child groomers, or anyone who exploits another person for sex,” said Senator Choi (R-Irvine). “Those who commit human trafficking or sexual crimes have demonstrated that they are unfit to hold the public’s trust. The original version of AB 2691 reflected that principle. The amended bill does not, and I cannot support it in its current form.”
The chair of the Senate Elections committee, who offered the absurd amendments, expressed his belief that these predators should be eligible for office, saying in committee, "sex offender registry is not punishment. It is a tool for law enforcement to be able to monitor people who may potentially cause a risk. And when we use the sex offender registry as a proxy for anything else, we get into, problems."