California Senate Democrats voted along party lines to reject a Republican amendment that would have prevented people convicted of certain sex crimes against minors from holding elected office, including school board positions.
The dispute centers on AB 2691, a bill originally designed to add sexual assault and human trafficking to the list of felony convictions that disqualify Californians from seeking public office.
Republican Sen. Suzette Valladares of Santa Clarita argued that Democratic-led amendments gutted the bill’s original intent, leaving a significant gap in protections for children.
“Right now in California, someone convicted of sexually abusing a child can still sit on your school board. That’s not a loophole. That’s a choice. And in my perspective, and most, that’s wrong,” Valladares said on the California Senate floor.
Valladares argued that amendments added during the legislative process narrowed the bill’s scope dramatically, limiting the public-office ban to only those requiring lifetime Tier 3 sex-offender registration.
“Convicted sex offenders don’t get to hold public office. Period. But amendments added this summer gutted it, narrowing the bill to cover only tier three offenders and deliberately exempting tier one and tier two,” Valladares said.
Under the bill’s current language, individuals whose convictions place them in Tier 1 or Tier 2 categories, which require at least 10 or 20 years on the registry respectively before seeking court removal, would remain eligible to run for public office.
Assemblywoman Dawn Addis, the bill’s Democratic author, defended the measure as a “first in the nation” proposal while declining to directly address specific offense categories raised by Republican state Sen. Steven Choi during a Senate committee hearing.
“We’re doing a first in the nation bill that would protect the public trust of survivors and would make sure that survivors are really in the lead,” Addis said, adding she was open to working with lawmakers on additional concerns.
Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who chairs the committee that considered the bill, argued that a broader prohibition covering all three registry tiers would be overbroad, noting California’s registry has historically captured a wide range of offenses.
“Sex offender registry is not punishment,” Wiener argued. “It is a tool for law enforcement to be able to monitor people who may potentially cause a risk. And when we use the sex offender registry as a proxy for anything else, we get into problems.”
Valladares pushed back forcefully, framing the vote in personal terms and vowing to continue her efforts to strengthen the legislation.
“I’m a mom. This one isn’t complicated for me. Today, 40 senators had the chance to say convicted sex offenders should NEVER hold public office in California,” she told Fox News Digital.
She added that ten Republican senators voted in support of her amendment, and that the defeat would not end her efforts to close what she describes as a deliberate legislative gap.
“My amendments would have closed the door. No loopholes. No exceptions. No convicted sex offenders serving in positions of public trust, including on our school boards. Protecting our kids should NEVER be partisan. I’m deeply disappointed, and I’m not done fighting,” Valladares said.
