New policy for charges of harassment in Legislature

SACRAMENTO — Lawmakers voted Monday to overhaul the way the state Legislature handles sexual harassment complaints, passing a policy crafted in response to widespread misconduct allegations in the Capitol.

The new policy, which was passed by a joint rules committee in a 25-0 vote, is expected to be in place by Feb. 1.

The biggest change involves where alleged victims file complaints. They will no longer have to go to a committee made up of legislators. Instead, complaints will be investigated by a newly created unit in a legislative legal office, a shift meant to ease concerns by victims and their advocates that lawmakers’ allegiances to each other have affected how they handled some misconduct allegations.

“It is a radical departure from what has been done in the past,” said Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale (Los Ange-

les County), chair of a subcommittee that drafted the new policy.

The new independent unit will gather evidence and submit findings to a three-member panel of experts who handle job-bias complaints. That panel will recommend discipline, but the Senate and Assembly will still have the final say in what punishment is doled out.

“We had archaic policies; policies that did not evolve with the times,” said Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, R-Escondido (San Diego County), vice chair of the committee that drafted the new rules.

Lawmakers concluded over the past year that they needed to overhaul the rules of both houses as women and some men shared allegations of misconduct. Many alleged victims said they had not filed complaints because they assumed lawmakers would do nothing to punish other legislators or their staffers.

In October, hundreds of women who work in politics signed an open letter decrying

pervasive sexual harassment in Sacramento.

Since then, three lawmakers — Sen. Tony Mendoza, DArtesia (Los Angeles County), and Assemblymen Raul Bocanegra, D-San Fernando Valley, and Matthew Dababneh, D-Encino (Los Angeles County) — have resigned in response to sexual harassment and misconduct complaints.

In another case, Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, was ordered to stop hugging coworkers after an investigation found multiple instances in which he had engaged in unwanted touching.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), took an unpaid leave earlier this year after being accused of groping

a legislative staffer. That allegation wasn’t substantiated, but a new investigation was opened recently after the man who made the allegation appealed the finding.

WeSaidEnough, the group that formed last year in response to widespread allegations in Sacramento, praised the new policy and said its members would monitor its effectiveness.

The policy was drafted by the Joint Committee on Rules’ subcommittee on sexual harassment prevention and response. The Senate and Assembly previously had different processes for handling complaints, which caused confusion when an alleged victim and accused lawmaker or staffer worked in different houses.

The policy does not address one area that victims’ advocates called a concern — what happens when a lawmaker or staffer accuses a lobbyist or member of the public of misconduct. Lawmakers said Monday that they need to look into what can legally be done in cases where the allegations are found to be true, such as barring the perpetrator from certain parts of the Capitol.

“The work is not done,” said Sen. Holly Mitchell, DLos Angeles, vice chair of the subcommittee that drafted the policy. “It’s not ‘We pass this and we are done.’ ”