Frommer angered over delayed bill

Ryan Carter

A local legislator will have to return to Sacramento on Monday to

attend a special Assembly session to hash out an amendment extending

Megan’s Law.

Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Burbank) is not happy about returning

to the state capitol, and blamed Republicans for holding up a bill

that should have been passed before the end of session earlier this

month.

“I’m extremely frustrated and outraged that we could not get

bipartisan support from the Republicans to pass this bill,” Frommer

said recently. “Now, we are going to go have to go back and set this

right.”

The bill extends Megan’s Law, which allows the public to view the

state’s registry of convicted child molesters and sex offenders.

It was voted down in the Assembly on Sept. 12, with Republicans

abstaining from a vote. Frommer has written a letter to Assembly

Republican Leader Dave Cox, expressing his frustration about

Republican opposition to the bill.

Gov. Gray Davis has asked the Senate and Assembly to return to

Sacramento to approve the bill, which was introduced by Assemblywoman

Nicole Parra (D-Bakersfield) and would extend Megan’s Law until 2007.

The Senate will not reconvene.

The current bill expires Jan. 1, and the state will lose $5

million in federal crime-fighting funding if it is not extended.

Legislators are paid $125 per diem for heading back. Plus, the

public would pick up the tab for staff hours and the drawing up of

legislative documents, he said.

“Taxpayers will have to pay for the cost of this failure of

leadership,” Frommer wrote in the letter. “That is irresponsible and

the worst form of partisan politics.”