San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
POSSIBLE CHANGE TO CALIFORNIA SEX CRIMES LAW COMES UNDER FIRE
Legislation sent to Newsom would remove automatic offender registration for some
A California bill intended to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ people in sex-crime convictions has captured the attention of Republicans and far-right conspiracy theorists, who are demanding a veto from Gov. Gavin Newsom and say state Democratic leaders are putting youths at risk.
The measure, Senate Bill 145, would amend existing state law that allows judges to decide whether an adult convicted of having vaginal sexual intercourse with a minor should register as a sex offender in cases in which the minor is 14 years or older and the adult is not more than 10 years older than the minor.
Currently, adults who are convicted of having oral or anal sex with a minor under those circumstances are automatically added to the state’s sex offender registry. SB 145 would eliminate automatic sex offender registration in those cases, and give judges discretion to make that decision.
Newsom’s decision to sign or veto the legislation promises to have a state and national political effect.
Along with opposition from Republicans in the state Legislature, supporters of President Donald Trump and far-right conspiracy theorists have seized on the bill, with some falsely claiming on social media that California is legalizing pedophilia.
Assemblyman Chad Mayes, an independent, warned fellow lawmakers about the potential political consequences just moments before he voted in favor of SB 145 on Aug. 31, the final night of the state legislative session.
“This is one of those bills you will take a political hit for,” said Mayes, who left the Republican Party in 2019. “But we also know that it’s righteous and just. This is the time to step up.”
The bill’s author, state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat, said the disparity in current state law that SB 145 would address is a remnant of California’s old anti-sodomy laws, many since repealed, that were intended to criminalize sex between gay men.
The intent of SB 145, he said, is to address cases in which two people close in age — an 18-year-old and 17-yearold dating in high school, for example — are in a sexual relationship. The 18-year-old can still be convicted of a sex offense but should not automatically be registered as a sex offender, a lifelong designation that is an impediment to finding employment, a place to live and other necessities of life, Wiener said.
“We need to stop criminalizing teenagers for having sex,” he said.
The vast majority of the criticism toward the bill is focused on a provision that has been in the state’s sex offender registry law for decades — the 10-year age gap between the minor and the adult.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas recently accused California Democrats of believing “we need more adults having sex with children.”
And Donald Trump Jr. used the bill to attack his father’s opponent in the presidential race, tweeting, “Why are Joe Biden Democrats working in California to pander to the wishes of pedophiles and child rapists?”
Despite the attempts by some opponents to distort and weaponize the issue, those efforts could present enough of a political threat to give Newsom pause about signing the bill, said Nathan Ballard, who worked as an aide to Newsom when he was mayor of San Francisco.
“It’s a tough call for the governor,” Ballard said. “There might be some wisdom in Gov. Newsom rejecting this draft and asking for modifications to eliminate the 10-year age gap.”
Dana Williamson, a Democratic political strategist and Cabinet secretary to then-gov. Jerry Brown, said sex offender registry laws discriminating against the LGBTQ community have been a long-standing problem in California, and she urged Newsom to sign the bill into law despite the attacks.
Williamson said Newsom may come under fire, but she doubts it would harm Newsom politically given his history of support for LGBTQ rights.
Wiener said opponents have deliberately distorted what the legislation would do in order to exploit ANTILGBTQ sentiment for their own political gain.
He noted that police chiefs and prosecutors support the bill, something he said they would not do if it put children at risk.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey helped draft the bill, which is supported by the California District Attorneys Association, the California Police Chiefs Association and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
“This bill allows judges and prosecutors to evaluate cases involving consensual sex acts between young people, regardless of their sexual orientation, on an individual basis. I drafted this bill because I believe the law must be applied equally to ensure justice for all Californians,” Lacey said in a written statement.
Among Wiener’s legislative colleagues, it was a Democrat, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who delivered one of the most impassioned attacks on the bill.
“I cannot, in my mind, as a mother, understand how sex between a 24-year-old and a 14-year-old could ever be consensual, how it could ever not be a registerable offense,” Gonzalez said during debate on the bill on the Assembly floor Aug. 31. “I challenge everybody: Give me a situation where a 24-year-old had sex with a 14-year-old, any kind of sex, and it wasn’t predatory.”
Wiener called those arguments grossly disingenuous.
He noted that the 10-year age difference provision in California’s sexual offender registry law has been on the books for decades and said that none of the lawmakers criticizing the bill have attempted to change the law to address judicial discretion in cases involving heterosexual sex with a minor.