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CA Dems Kill Bill to Keep Child Sex Predators Off the Ballot — Guess Who Led the Charge
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AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
California Democrats on the state’s Senate Elections Committee just made it a little easier for registered sex offenders to run for public office.
A bill that would have blocked anyone on the state’s sex offender registry from seeking elected positions passed the Assembly without a single no vote, only to die in the upper chamber’s elections panel this week.
At the same time, lawmakers tweaked another measure aimed at keeping felony sex offenders out of politics, adding carve-outs that could let some convicted of crimes against children still get on the ballot for everything from school boards to the Legislature.
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To nobody’s surprise, Committee Chair (and U.S. House candidate, not to mention uber-creepy dude) Scott Wiener played a leading role in pushing back against the broader ban.
Assembly Bill 2753, authored by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria (D), would have barred anyone required to register as a sex offender under California law from running for or holding state or local elected office.
The measure aimed to close what supporters saw as a loophole that allowed registered offenders—including those convicted in cases involving children—to seek positions on school boards, city councils, and even the Legislature. Soria introduced the bill after a registered sex offender named Rene Campos tried to run for Fresno City Council. Campos had pleaded no contest back in 2018 to a misdemeanor for possessing child sex abuse material.
The bill failed due to insufficient yes votes, with Wiener (D) casting the “no” and two other Democrats abstaining.
Wiener opposed the broad version of the bill, according to KCRA, because he views California’s sex offender registry as overly wide-ranging, covering a spectrum of offenses rather than just the most dangerous predators. He pushed for a narrower approach limited to Tier 3 (lifetime) registrants.
Feel free to check out violations that get you on the other tiers in California here.
Even as they blocked the broader registry ban, the same committee moved forward with a related bill from Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D), but not without watering it down significantly. Addis accepted amendments that carved out exemptions for certain felony sex crimes against children, including, according to the outlet, “rape and sodomy.”
It feels filthy just to write that. Democrats had no problem carving out the exception.
“We didn’t want to unintentionally wrap in what’s known as Romeo and Juliet kinds of situations into this elections bill,” Addis explained. “That’s really about younger people. You’re dating someone, you turn 18, you’re still dating that person, and there are things that may happen in the criminal justice system. We didn’t want to unintentionally wrap into this bill.”
Speaking to reporters outside the committee room right after the Senate Elections panel killed her bill, Soria looked visibly taken aback, but vowed to keep pressing forward.
“I’m extremely disappointed, and I feel like I’m still trying to process what we just saw,” she said. “I think the fight still continues. I made a promise to my community.”
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