Did Ca Pass A Bill To Not Register Sexx Offenderr

California Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses his revised 2020-2021 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, California, May 14, 2020.

The merits: California passed 'pro-pedophilia' legislation to remove the felony status of sex with minors

Tardily Monday, just before the legislative session expired, Senate Nib 145 passed the California State Associates 41-18 and the State Senate 32-10, co-ordinate to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Just posts shared thousands of times claimed that the "pro-pedophilia" legislation had actually passed a 24-hour interval earlier, by a vote of vi-ii, and misconstrued its contents.

"It's a PRO PEDOPHILIA BILL. States NO registration or felony if sexual practice with minor is due west/in 10yrs," one mail service explains, with the hashtag #SaveOurChildren.

"It states no felony for having sexual practice with a minors," another mail reads.

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The misinformation is the latest in a series of attacks on the legislation and the lawmaker who introduced information technology – state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Fransisco – by right-wing conspiracy theorists known every bit QAnon.

Their attacks against Wiener included death threats, homophobia and anti-semitism, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Users behind the posts did not respond to request for comment from U.s. TODAY.

Legislation unrelated to whether sex with minors is a misdemeanor, felony

SB-145 volition non affect the criminal status of sex between minors and adults.

The age of consent for sexual intercourse in California is eighteen. Accordingly, whatsoever sex act with a person younger than xviii is a law-breaking, though whether it is a misdemeanor or felony depends on the age of the people involved, according to the California Penal Lawmaking.

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Samuel Garrett-Pate, a spokesman for Equality California, a nonprofit that co-sponsored the legislation, told Usa TODAY the bill is "ending in an inequity, not legalizing anything."

"What SB-145 does is not legalize whatever sort of conduct, as those viral posts suggests," he said.

If signed past Gov. Gavin Newsom in the next month, the bill will become law.

Legislation eliminates an anti-LGBTQ inequality in sexual practice offender registration requirements

SB-145 changes the law to let judges the aforementioned level of discretion over whether sure people must annals every bit sexual activity offenders for consensual anal and oral sex equally they already accept for consensual penile-vaginal sex activity.

According to its Senate Floor Analysis, the legislation "exempts a person convicted of nonforcible sodomy with a minor, oral copulation with a minor, or sexual penetration with a pocket-size, as specified, from having to automatically register every bit a sex offender."

Though it removes the "automated" requirement, "a person convicted of i of those specified offenses may nonetheless exist ordered to annals in the discretion of the court."

It's besides applicable simply if the developed was within 10 years of historic period of the minor at the time the offense, and the minor was at least 14 years old – provisions known in some states equally Romeo and Juliet laws.

Before SB-145, an xviii-year-sometime male convicted of having oral or anal sex with a 17-year-old male person would be required to register equally a sex offender, while a 24-twelvemonth-old male person convicted of having penile-vaginal sex with a 15-year-erstwhile female would not be automatically required to register – it would exist left up to the judge.

Garrett-Pate said SB-145 creates parity regardless of sexual orientation.

"The current law says that for penile-vaginal sexual activity, it'south up to the judge to determine whether or not that person should be placed on the registry," he said. "Under current law, however, the judge has no discretion if it's oral or anal sex. That means that LGBTQ young people finish up being treated differently than their non-LGBTQ peers."

Jackie Lacey, the Los Angeles Canton commune attorney who drafted and co-sponsored the legislation, told Usa TODAY the legislation "brings much-needed parity to California's sexual offender registration law."

"This bill allows judges and prosecutors to evaluate cases involving consensual sexual activity acts betwixt immature people, regardless of their sexual orientation, on an individual basis," she said in a statement. "I drafted this bill because I believe the law must exist applied as to ensure justice for all Californians."

Notably, SB-145 does non apply to intercourse of any kind with minors who are younger than xiv. In those cases, mandatory sex offender registration is required by law.

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Legislation intended to meliorate sex offender database, stop discrimination

Rather than enabling pedophilia, equally the posts suggest, advocates say SB-145 will improve the sex offender registry.

That'south why it had the support of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the California Police Chiefs Clan, the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the Crime Victims Action Brotherhood and Children Now, among others.

"The sex offender registry being a tool for criminal offence solving in the future is only constructive if the people on it are really a threat to or a danger to their community," Garrett-Pate said.

"It strengthens the registry past making sure that it'due south usable because the people on it are really people who are a threat to society, not a high school educatee who made a mistake," he added.

The land's sex offender database has more than 100,000 registered sex offenders, which police force enforcement agencies accept said is too large to fulfill its purpose of tracking potential predators, according to the San Fransisco Chronicle.

SB-145 also ends discrimination that Garrett-Pate said was written into constabulary because of outdated bans on sodomy, which were repealed in California in the 1970s and nationwide in 2004.

Wiener told The states TODAY that SB-145 is "a bones equity law."

"Despite massive, disgusting misinformation from the QAnon cult – including extreme death threats against me – we were able to pass SB-145, because it's the right thing to do," he said in a statement. "I'm grateful that my colleagues saw through the lies and understood that LGBTQ young people are having their lives destroyed simply for having consensual sex. We need to stop criminalizing our youth and finish treating LGBTQ youth more harshly than straight youth."

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Our rating: False

Based on our inquiry, viral claims well-nigh SB-145 as "pro-pedophilia" legislation are False. From its passage and vote count to its contents, posts online take spread falsehoods virtually the legislation, which allows judges to have the aforementioned level of discretion over sex offender registration for anal and oral sex that they already do for penile-vaginal sexual activity. Information technology is intended to strengthen the sex offender registry and end discrimination against LGBTQ youth. SB-145 does not utilize to intercourse of any kind with minors who are younger than 14. In those cases, mandatory sexual activity offender registration is required by law. It'south also applicable only if the adult was within ten years of age of the pocket-sized at the time the criminal offense.

Our fact-check sources:

San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 31, California bill eliminating sex offender listing inequity toward LGBTQ people passes
San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 13, Scott Wiener tries to salvage bill fixing sex-offender list'south inequity toward gay people
California Penal Code, Part 1, Title 9, Chapter i, Section 261.5
California Legislative Information, SB-145 Sex offenders: registration
Interview with Samuel Garrett-Pate, spokesperson for Equality California
Statement from Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles County district attorney
Argument from California Country Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco
Associated Press, Sept. ii, Pecker would not legalize pedophilia in California

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