BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 860
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
860 (Daly) - As Amended March 25, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill.
1)Expands the crime of sexual battery rape, sodomy, forced oral
AB 860
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copulation, sodomy, and sexual penetration to include
non-consensual sexual contact by a person who performs
professional services that entail having access to another
person's body, who touches an intimate part of a person's body
while performing those services, and the touching was against
the person's will, and for the purpose of sexual arousal,
sexual gratification, or sexual abuse.
2)Punishes this crime by imprisonment in state prison for two,
three, or four years, and by a fine not exceeding $10,000.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor, if any, new costs for state incarceration as this bill
does not increase penalties or change the burden of proof. The
specified offense must still be committed against the will of
the victim.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "Sexual Assault is a
serious crime, and perpetrators who use positions of trust to
assault their clients should be prosecuted to the fullest
extent of the law. AB 860 will ensure that these violators are
charged with felony sex crimes."
2)Argument in Support: According to The Orange County District
Attorney, "The Orange County District Attorney's Office is
pleased to support AB 860, which would close a loophole in the
law to address sexual predators who provide professional
services (such as doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists
and others in positions of trust/power) and prey on vulnerable
victims.
"Currently, there is no provision in the law to address a sexual
assault committed without a victims' consent in the context of
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professional services, other than misdemeanor sexual battery.
AB 860 addresses this gap in the law by providing that a
sexual assault committed against these vulnerable victims will
be punished similarly to offenses where their consent was
obtained fraudulently."
3)Prior Legislation: AB 2049 (Saldana), of the 2007-2008
Legislative Session, was identical to this bill. AB 2049 was
never heard in Senate Public Safety.
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081