A former highway appropriations bill has morphed into a bill aimed at child predators.
Assembly Bill 534 was authored by Republican Cameron Smyth of Southern California because of recent Internet postings that included children.
If this bill eventually makes its way through the legislative process and becomes law, it “would make it a misdemeanor for any person to publish information describing the physical appearance of a child, the location of a child or locations where children may be found with the intent that another person (could) use the information to commit a crime against a child and the information is likely to aid in the imminent commission of a crime against a child,” according the amended bill’s language as of Friday.
“This is a gut-and-amend bill that until (last week) dealt with an entirely different issue, and has yet to be analyzed by a policy committee,” said Will Shuck, chief of staff of Assemblymember Patty Berg’s office. “The ‘gut’ refers to stripping the bill of all its original language, and the ‘amend’ means inserting entirely new and often unrelated language. ... Until (last week), AB 534 would have increased the amount of money transferred monthly from the Highway User Tax Account to the Bicycle Transportation Account. So all of the previous votes for that bill have nothing to do with the language that’s in there now.”
Shuck explained that there is “nothing untoward” about the maneuver of switching a bill’s intent by inserting new language, although he did say, “We are of course sometimes leery of a gut-and-amend that appears at the very last minute on the very last day. But this particular gut-and-amend happened because they just came up with the idea.”
Nonetheless, Berg did comment on the proposed bill — barring any unforeseen changes — despite the fact that it hasn’t been heard by a committee where its strengths and weaknesses would be aired. Shuck also emphasized that Berg’s initial support of the concept does not mean that she supports the bill because it could still be changed — and changed quite dramatically.
“We absolutely must protect our children from predators,” Berg said. “But we also have to do it right. We don’t want some hastily written law that’s going to spend more time in court than the monsters who motivated it.”
State Sen. Pat Wiggins’ press secretary, David Miller, also commented on the nascent bill before the Labor Day weekend.
“The senator shares her colleagues’ concern for protecting children against predators,” Miller said. “She has yet to see the bill, which was only amended into its current form on Aug. 28. She looks forward to reviewing AB 534 should it come before her for consideration.”
Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen declined to comment on the bill.
“The chief did not have comment on this at this time,” said Suzie Owsley, public information officer of the Eureka Police Department. “He wanted to wait for direction from the council on any impending legislation that might affect the city.”
Humboldt County Sheriff Gary Philp did comment.
“We support this bill,” he stated. “Assemblymember Smyth’s bill — the ‘Surrogate Stalker Act’ — will help to fill a loophole in current law that allows potential sex offenders to ‘publish’ or make information available to another person about children with the intent of criminal exploitation. Such information could include photos and locations where children could be found.
The bill has also received some big-time political support.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a written statement last week.
“Assembly Bill 534, the ‘Surrogate Stalker Act,’ by Assemblymember Cameron Smyth, will help fix a loophole in existing statutes that allows potential sex offenders to post information about children with the intent of criminal exploitation,” the governor said.
“... My single greatest priority as governor is to protect the safety and well-being of all Californians, particularly our smallest, most vulnerable residents — our children. Sexually violent predators pose a serious threat to public safety and we must take every necessary step to eliminate that threat.” |