CA: Governor Vetoes Eight Sex Offender Bills

Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a total of eight sex offender bills, passed by the state legislature, that could have negatively impacted registrants and their families.  Of that total, three of the bills were authored by Assembly member Lorena Gonzales-Fletcher who attempted to stop the Tiered Registry Bill last year.

“We thank Governor Brown for protecting registrants and their families,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci.  “We also thank him for his support of the Tiered Registry bill.”

One of eight bills vetoed by the Governor included Assembly Bill 514, which ACSOL opposed both in its original and its final forms.  As introduced, the bill would have required registrants to disclose to potential landlords and home sellers their status as registrants.  The final version of the bill would have required the CA State Department of Social Services to notify child day care facilities when a person convicted of certain offenses moved to a new residence within 1,000 feet of a child day care facility.

In his explanation for vetoing AB 514, the Governor stated that the bill would have created a “new overlapping process that provides information that is already quickly and easily accessible on the internet.”

The remaining seven bills vetoed by the Governor and their authors include AB 900 (Gonzalez Fletcher), AB 1882 (Cervantes), AB 2070 (Reyes), AB 2079 (Gonzalez Fletcher), AB 2294 (Obernolte), AB 3120 (Gonzales Fletcher) and SB 1449 (Leyva).

In addition to the Governor’s veto of legislation, a total of 10 sex offender bills were stopped by the legislature.  One of those bills, AB 887, would have created a $5 million grant program to assist victims of human trafficking.  Another two bills stopped by the legislature would have required hotel workers (AB 1761) and janitors (AB 2034) to report possible human trafficking in their respective places of employment.