California Democrats in Sacramento have advanced a bill that still allows some convicted sex offenders including adults who committed sex acts against minors under certain conditions to run for public office, while killing a broader measure that would have barred all registered sex offenders from appearing on the ballot.
According to the Daily Caller, Assembly Bill 2753, authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria and introduced in February, would have amended Californias elections code to prohibit any registered sex offender from seeking state or local office. The measure cleared the California State Assembly with bipartisan backing but was rejected Tuesday by the California Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, even as lawmakers moved forward with a narrower alternative, Los Banos Enterprise reported.
That alternative, Assembly Bill 2691 by Democratic Assemblywoman Dawn Addis, also introduced in February, bars individuals convicted of certain felony sexual assault or human trafficking offenses from running for office and passed the same Senate committee last week. Unlike Sorias proposal, however, Addis bill does not apply to all crimes that require sex offender registration, leaving significant gaps that critics argue could allow dangerous offenders to hold public power.
Before AB 2691 advanced, senators amended the bill to sharply limit which crimes would disqualify a candidate by narrowing the legal definition of sexual assault. Under those changes, individuals convicted of sodomy, oral copulation, or sexual penetration against minors under specified circumstances are not classified as having committed sexual assault for the purposes of the bill and therefore remain eligible to run for office.
Soria introduced AB 2753 after Rene Campos, a registered sex offender convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material, announced his candidacy for Fresno City Council, according to ABC30. Members of the Senate committee reviewing her bill objected to what they called overly broad language, arguing that it would permanently bar anyone who had ever been required to register as a sex offender, even if they were later removed from the registry or if the law changed, Los Banos Enterprise reported.
Soria said she was deeply disappointed and disheartened by the committees decision to block her legislation, according to a press release from her office. The bottom line is this: I was not willing to make additional amendments to this bill, Soria said.
I made a promise to my community that I would do everything in my power to ensure they would never have to go through something like this again. Accepting additional amendments to this bill would have jeopardized that promise. Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza echoed her frustration, aligning local leadership against the Senate committees move.
This decision from the Senate Elections Committee is a gut punch for our community in Fresno, Esparza said in the same press release. I want to thank Assemblywoman Soria for doing everything she could to deliver a commonsense bill. This was a bill worth standing up and fighting for.
Because Addis bill carves out exceptions and does not apply to all registered sex offenders, its reach is far narrower than Sorias proposal and leaves many Californians wondering why lawmakers are reluctant to impose a blanket ban. Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who chairs the Senate Elections Committee, has been accused of driving those exceptions in AB 2691 to further weaken its scope, the New York Post reported.
At a Tuesday hearing, critics sharply condemned Wieners role in narrowing the bill and excluding certain crimes against minors from its prohibitions. Our honest reaction was that it could not be real. We assume weve misread it. We sat in our office and tried to imagine how anyone could stand up and defend it, said Greg Burt, vice president of the California Family Council, according to the New York Post.
So Im here today generally hoping someone will tell us why crimes against children are being carved out of this bill, Burt added. His remarks underscored a broader conservative concern that Californias progressive leadership is more focused on protecting offenders than on safeguarding children and restoring public trust in government.
Wiener defended the exceptions as necessary to shield young adults who had recently turned 18 from what he described as disproportionate punishment, according to the outlet. He argued that the original language could have swept in an 18-year-old who had sex with a 17-year-old, even though such cases are typically charged as misdemeanors rather than felonies.
Wiener also opposed Sorias broader bill, asserting that Californias sex offender registry is an extreme and broken system that has historically targeted gay men unfairly, the New York Post reported. Wiener, who identifies as gay, previously authored legislation easing registration requirements for offenders within 10 years of age of the minor they assaulted, a measure Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2020, and in 2019 he introduced a bill to halt what he called discrimination against LGBTQ young people on the sex offender registry.
If enacted, AB 2691 will govern eligibility for candidates seeking positions on city councils, county boards, school boards, and any other elected office at any level of California government. For many parents and taxpayers who expect the strictest possible standards for those wielding public authority, the Legislatures decision to kill a comprehensive ban while advancing a bill that still permits some offenders against minors to run for office raises a stark question about whose interests Californias ruling class is truly protecting.
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