Senator Jeff Denham, R-Merced, will have to go back to the
drawing board on two bills legislators killed Tuesday
– one that targets anyone knowingly infecting other people with
HIV and another aimed at charging pedophiles with a crime for
trolling for young victims on the Internet.
Hollister – Senator Jeff Denham, R-Merced, will have to go back to the drawing board on two bills legislators killed Tuesday – one that targets anyone knowingly infecting other people with HIV and another aimed at charging pedophiles with a crime for trolling for young victims on the Internet.
Two of Denham’s other bills, however, passed the Senate Public Safety Committee en route to the Senate floor. One bill would require anyone involved in a fatal accident to submit to a blood alcohol test. The other would prohibit sexually violent pedophiles from being placed back into society near a school, according to press secretary Nick Rappley.
While Denham’s HIV and Internet pedophile bills were voted down by Public Safety Committee members, Rappley said there is a chance to revive the bills by making some changes. The Internet predator bill could be back before the committee again in a few weeks, while changes to the HIV bill could take longer, he said.
“We’re real happy. We got two bills out, and it’s tough as a Republican to get bills out of the committees when they’re Democrat-controlled,” Rappley said. “We were able to get two out and work on a third. It was a good day.”
The Public Safety Committee voted 4-0 to approve a bill that would require all sexually violent pedophiles released from state prison be relocated at least a quarter-mile away from a school, Rappley said. Currently, there is no law prohibiting them from living near a school – placing young children at risk, Rappley said. The bill will proceed to the Senate floor. If passed, it will then travel to committees in the Assembly, the Assembly floor and onto the Governor’s desk, Rappley said. But it could be killed anytime along the way, he said.
Another one of his bills that passed, the blood alcohol bill, would give a police officer the discretion to test drivers involved in a fatal car accident. Currently, only the deceased are required to be tested, according to a written statement.
Denham drafted the bill, which will be heard on the Senate floor in late summer, in an attempt to more accurately assess the role of alcohol in highway accidents, according to a written statement. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 25 percent of all drivers in fatal accidents in 2002 tested positive for blood-alcohol concentration.
Denham’s Internet predator bill that did not pass targets pedophiles who lure children over the Internet by focusing on their intent before any action takes place. Some lawyers have said the bill is unconstitutional because it charges someone with a crime they haven’t yet committed, and Public Safety Committee members voted the bill down because they believe the current law is sufficient, Rappley said. “They believe there is enough law on the books to handle this. We’re saying there’s not and we’ve seen it before,” he said.
Rappley said Denham will be working on amending the bill to appease committee members and hopefully get it passed during the next go-around in several weeks.
Public Safety Committee members denied the HIV bill, which would beef up legislation on prosecuting people who knowingly transmit HIV, also because they felt it didn’t adequately address the notion of intent. Under current state law, it is almost impossible to prosecute people who knowingly transmit HIV because prosecutors have to prove they infected the person knowingly and intended to hurt them, Rappley said. Rappley said Denham plans to write “reckless intent” into the bill, which would allow law enforcement to put someone in jail by proving they knew they were infected with the disease and didn’t disclose the information to their partner.
“Short of taking a vial of blood and going out into Times Square and spreading it around, it’s almost impossible to prove,” Rappley said. “We need something a little more reasonable, but at the same time make sure it protects both sides.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
