Hate Crimes Spur Lawmakers to Seek $5-Million Fund for Prosecutions

Trying to go beyond talk in their battle against hatemongering, a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday announced an effort to set aside $5 million in state funds for local prosecutors to pursue hate crimes.

Currently, the state does not earmark money for counties for the specific purpose of prosecuting hate crimes, and some lawmakers want California to make that financial commitment.

“It’s not simply enough . . . to condemn those acts of hatred,” Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) told reporters Monday. “If we truly believe in the fight against hate, quite simply we’ve got to put our money where our mouth is.”

Hertzberg issued his call for action at a Capitol news conference designed to back the new legislation (AB 741) by Assemblyman Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside). Hertzberg was joined by Pacheco and law enforcement authorities including a representative of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, Jewish community leaders and others.

Legislators jumped on the hate crime issue in the wake of a wave of high-profile crimes that unsettled the state this summer, ranging from the murder of a gay couple in Redding to synagogue fires in Sacramento, the wounding of five people at the North Valley Jewish Community Center and the killing of a Filipino American postal carrier.

At least one other hate crime bill is making its way through the Legislature. The proposal (AB 1163) by Assemblyman Darrel Steinberg (D-Sacramento) would allocate $500,000 as a down payment on a new state-sponsored education center in Sacramento for the teaching of tolerance.

The Steinberg and Pacheco bills are pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Gray Davis said the governor has no position on Pacheco’s legislation. She said Davis has indicated general support for the concept of a tolerance museum in Sacramento but has not agreed on a price tag.

A central issue is whether the state should put aside money specifically to combat hate crimes, in the same way funds are channeled to local district attorneys for insurance fraud.

The state Department of Justice reported that in 1998 there were slightly more than 2,000 hate crimes reported in the state. Two-thirds appeared to have been motivated by the race or ethnicity of the victim.

James R. Provenza, a special assistant to Garcetti, maintained that the county’s hate crime prosecution unit of five attorneys is not sufficient to handle cases in Los Angeles County. Hertzberg said the Los Angeles County unit could be doubled as a result of Pacheco’s bill.

Under that proposal, counties such as Los Angeles could apply for grants from the state criminal justice planning office to bring hate crimes cases. As currently envisioned, the $5 million would be a one-shot appropriation.

“Society’s response must be swift and sure,” Pacheco said. “Without sufficient resources being brought to bear, our communities will continue to be terrorized. That is unacceptable for a civilized society.”