McCarthy Supports Alpert’s Bill to Toughen Sexual-Battery Law
Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy on Sunday threw his support behind state legislation to toughen the penalties against sexual battery, including increasing jail time for bosses who assault an employee.
McCarthy, a U.S. Senate candidate in the June 2 election, joined the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Deirdre Alpert (D-Del Mar) at a Los Angeles news conference to promote the measure, which also would make sexual battery on minors a felony and require people convicted of sexual battery to register with police as sex offenders.
“Just a few years ago, if someone accosted a woman in a parking lot at night, held her against her car, and fondled her sexually, the most a perpetrator could have been charged with was simple battery,” said McCarthy, who as Assembly speaker authored legislation a decade ago creating the crime of sexual battery.
The bill is in committee and should come up for a vote in the Assembly in two weeks, McCarthy said.
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