California Democrats Deliberately Left the Door Open for Child Sex Offenders to Seek Public Office

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones is right to call out what just happened in Sacramento. Democrats did not merely fail to fully protect children from predators seeking public office. They actively rejected the chance to do so.

Assembly Bill 2691 started as a straightforward idea: people convicted of felony sexual assault or human trafficking should be barred from state or local elective office, just as those convicted of bribery, perjury, or stealing public money already are. The Assembly passed that version unanimously. Then it reached the Democratic supermajority in the Senate.

There, the bill was rewritten. Amendments limited the ban to only Tier 3 lifetime sex-offender registrants. Adults convicted of sexual crimes against children who fall into Tier 1 or Tier 2 registration—including certain cases of sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration of minors—remain eligible to run for school board, city council, or any other public office. Early drafts even explicitly carved some of those child-victim offenses out of the definition of “sexual assault.”

Republicans, including Jones and Senator Suzette Valladares, offered amendments to close the gap and impose a broader ban. Democrats voted them down. The final bill passed the Senate 34-2, with only Jones and one other Republican opposed, and was signed by Governor Newsom. No serious public explanation was given for why certain sexual crimes against children should not permanently disqualify someone from positions of trust.

This is not an oversight. California’s Democratic majority had the votes to bar every adult convicted of sexual offenses against children from public office. They chose a narrower law instead—one that treats some child victims as less deserving of protection than adult victims and that leaves a documented pathway open for convicted offenders. Under one-party rule, even measures that enjoy near-universal support can be quietly limited when they conflict with the majority’s preferences.

Jones has said he will not stop fighting until every child predator is barred from holding public office in California. On the evidence of AB 2691, the Democratic supermajority has already shown it is willing to stop short of that standard.