Bill Originally Seeking to Prohibit Sex Offenders and Human Traffickers from Elected Office, Amended to Exempt Pedophiles

AB 2691 by Assemblywoman Dawn Addis (D-San Luis Obispo) prohibits persons convicted of “sexual assault” and “human trafficking” from running for any state or local elective office in California. It’s a good bill, with good intent… or was.

Recent amendments made on June 24, 2026 added in exemptions for pedophile adults who target children for sex.

The bill was heard in the Senate Elections Committee Tuesday morning.

What no longer counts as “sexual assault” under this elections law were amended in the bill above. And prior to the Senate hearing Tuesday, the amendments were made at the request of Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) who is the Committee Chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, according to the California Family Council.

In Elections Code §20(b)(3):

• “Sexual assault” means a violation of Penal Code Sections 261 (rape), 286 (sodomy), 287 (oral copulation), 288 (lewd acts with minor), 288.5 (continuous sexual abuse of child), 289 (sexual penetration), or former related sections.
• However, it explicitly excludes:
  • Subdivision (b) of Section 286 (sodomy with a minor under certain conditions).
  • Subdivision (b) of Section 287 (oral copulation with a minor under certain conditions).
  • Subdivisions (h) or (i) of Section 289 (sexual penetration with a minor under certain conditions).

If any of this is ringing a bell, Sen. Wiener, in 2019, authored Senate Bill 145 which at the time of its introduction would allow a sex offender who lures a minor with the intent to commit a felony sex act, the ability to escape registering as a sex offender as long as the offender is within 10 years of age of the minor. As we reported in 2020, SB 145 in effect allows a 24 year old to have sex with a 14 year old, relaxing the penalties for having “non-forcible sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration with a minor.”

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Wiener’s SB 145 in 2020. The Globe reported: “Gov. Newsom Signs Bill to Protect Sex Offenders Who Have Homosexual Sex with Minors. How can this bill be legal when California’s age of consent is still 18?”

Buckle up: Sen. Wiener’s requested amendments to Assemblywoman Addis’ bill, are the same as his SB 145 – exempting sodomy on a minor, oral copulation on a minor, and sexual penetration of a minor. 

These sexual crimes against minor children would not prevent someone from running for state or local elective office in California.

These excluded acts are still serious crimes, especially as they are felonies involving minors, but they fall outside the bill’s narrowed definition of “sexual assault” for the purpose of disqualifying someone from elective office.

The only conclusion a rational person can reach from these amendments is that Assemblywoman Addis and Sen. Wiener believe that it is ethical and legal if pedophiles are elected to public office in California? Or they know what they are doing and tried to get away with the amendments.

However, and despite Sen. Wiener’s SB 145 which Gov. Newsom signed into law, these crimes are more heinous than those still within the definition of sexual assault because they involve minor children.

As originally written, and before the amendments, AB 2691 would have been worthy of strong bipartisan support, but now has been made reprehensible. A bill that sought to prohibit persons convicted of “sexual assault” and “human trafficking” from running for any state or local elective office in California now says that it is acceptable to elect pedophiles and child sexual groomers to state and local public office. 

This is the California Legislature, California Democrats, and the evil left at work destroying the once-Golden State, and putting minor children in harms way, again.