BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2199
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 21, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                  AB 2199 (Lowenthal) - As Amended:  April 14, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Public  
          SafetyVote:  4-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill repeals an obsolete provision of law requiring the  
          Department of Mental Health (DMH), to plan, conduct, and cause  
          to be conducted scientific research into the causes and cures of  
          sexual deviation, including the causes and cures of  
          homosexuality. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible savings to DMH, which does not currently conduct  
          research into the causes and cures of homosexuality. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . According to the author, this obsolete provision  
            was adopted during a 1950 special session dealing with sex  
            crimes. The bill that enacted this statute specifically  
            required what was then known as the Department of Mental  
            Hygiene to conduct scientific research into the causes and  
            cures of sexual deviation and the causes and cures of  
            homosexuality. 

            The author states, "The code section this bill seeks to repeal  
            not only reflects misguided and out-of-date science, it  
            enshrines bigotry and false stereotypes in law." 

           2)Current law  states that DMH, "shall plan, conduct, and cause  
            to be conducted scientific research into the causes and cures  
            of sexual deviation, including deviations conducive to sex  
            crimes against children, and the causes and cures of  
            homosexuality, and into methods of identifying potential sex  








                                                                  AB 2199
                                                                  Page  2

            offenders." 


            This bill would amend that provision to state that the DMH  
            "shall plan, conduct, or cause to be conducted scientific  
            research into the prevention of sex crimes against children."


           3)Support  . According to Equality California, "This bill would  
            repeal an archaic law directing mental health officials to  
            seek a cure for homosexuality? This code continues to  
            mischaracterize sexual orientation in the LGBT community as  
            mental disorder and institutes bigotry against the lesbian,  
            gay, bisexual, and transgender community. It wrongly links  
            sexual orientation with child molestation, sexual deviance and  
            calls for research into a cure for homosexuality. In 1973, the  
            American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality  
            from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders  
            (DSM). Prior to that, gays and lesbians were wrongly  
            considered to have a mental disorder by the APA." 


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081