AB 2753 – A California proposal that would have barred registered sex offenders from running for local or state office failed to advance in a Senate Elections and Constitutional Committee vote, after Senate Democrats split and did not secure majority support.
When California senators failed to move a bill that would have kept registered sex offenders off the ballot, it wasn’t just a procedural setback inside the committee room. It was a direct hit to a promise Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria made to voters after a local candidate’s campaign raised alarm.
On Tuesday. the Senate Elections and Constitutional Committee rejected Assembly Bill 2753. leaving the measure likely dead after it fell short of the five-member panel’s need for majority support. Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) voted against the bill. while fellow Democrats Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) and Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) abstained. The committee’s sole Republican, Steve Choi (R-Irvine), and Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) voted in favor, but it wasn’t enough—2-1-2.
The bill could still be reviewed on the Senate floor in a Thursday session, but staff from Soria’s office are conceding that is unlikely.
Soria said she was left “deeply disappointed and disheartened.” In a statement. she said AB 2753 would have prohibited “any registered sex offender in the State of California from running for local or state public office.” The bill’s wording would have “prohibit[ed] a person from being a candidate for. or elected to. any state or local elective office if the person has ever been required to register as a sex offender.”.
The failure lands on the heels of an earlier wave of support. AB 2753 passed the Assembly floor on May 7 with unanimous bipartisan backing, including a 60-0 vote.
Wiener’s opposition in committee centered on what he viewed as overbroad consequences. During the bill’s review and in the committee meeting. he asked for amendments that would have limited the lifetime ban to Tier 3 members. His concern was that. without changes. the law could land on people he described as falling into so-called “Romeo and Juliet” circumstances—close in age cases such as one partner being 19 and the other being 17.
He also pointed to the committee’s analysis warning that the sex offender registry. dating back to 1947. could include LGBTQ+ offenders from decades ago who were convicted of offenses that are no longer crimes. The analysis also raised the possibility that if a younger partner sent sexually explicit digital content to an older partner—a misdemeanor—then the older partner could be barred from public office for life.
At the committee hearing. Wiener also raised a specific example: he said Bayard Rustin. a civil rights strategist and fighter. was placed on the California sex offender’s registry list after being arrested by Pasadena Police for having consensual sex with another man in 1953. He told lawmakers. “Without the amendment contained in the analysis. I will be voting ‘no’ on this bill and recommending that the committee vote ‘no. ’” adding that the sex offender list was “not punishment. ” but instead “a tool for law enforcement to monitor who may potentially cause a risk.”.
Soria. meanwhile. said she agreed to one amendment but did not accept other changes. including removing lifetime bans on Tier 1 or 2 offenses. “The bottom line is this: I was not willing to make additional amendments to this bill,” she said. “I made a promise to my community that I would do everything in my power to ensure they would never have to go through something like this again. Accepting additional amendments to this bill would have jeopardized that promise.”.
Her push for the bill was tied to a recent Fresno election. In the June 2 Fresno City Council election. registered sex offender Rene Campos fell short of the necessary votes in his bid to run for Central Valley Council. Campos was charged with possession of child pornography in 2018 and hosted his campaign kickoff in front of an elementary school.
Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza spoke in support of AB 2753 during the Senate Elections and Constitutional Committee meeting. Esparza told the committee that his office received dozens of calls from residents asking how Campos’ candidacy could be allowed. “My office received dozens of calls from our residents asking how this could be allowed,” he said. “AB 2753 closes this loophole.”.
As for what happens next, the bill’s fate remains uncertain. It is unclear whether AB 2753 will be reintroduced next year at least at the Assembly level. Soria is running for the state senate in November.
In the end. the vote left supporters with a familiar frustration: even after a wide. unanimous push on the Assembly floor. the proposal ran aground in the Senate committee stage—turning a national-sounding question of who should hold office into a very immediate fight over the boundaries of a registry-based ban.
California politics sex offender registry AB 2753 Senate Elections and Constitutional Committee Esmeralda Soria Scott Wiener Fresno City Council election Rene Campos
So they just let sex offenders run now? cool.
I mean I get the whole “overbroad” thing, but seriously how is this even a debate. If they’re on the registry, they shouldn’t be anywhere near public office. Wiener probably just didn’t want to make it too easy for anyone to appeal or something.
Wait, I thought this passed already? Like didn’t it go through the Assembly 60-0? Then why are people acting like it’s totally dead. Also I saw Soria’s name and assumed she was a senator? maybe I’m mixing it up with another bill but this just feels like politics doing politics.
AB 2753 failed 2-1-2… that math alone is confusing. But also, if it’s “anyone required to register ever,” that sounds like it covers way more than just recent offenders. Not saying I’m pro-offender or whatever, I just think the details matter. Still, I feel like they’re scared of being called discriminatory, like the committee doesn’t want the headlines.