McCarthy Supports Alpert’s Bill to Toughen Sexual-Battery Law
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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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