AB 702 Passes First Test

Bill,

“The Art of war”

Sun Tzu said:
Avoid what is strong. Attack what is weak.

Sun Tzu’s teachings can be applied to any type of conflict.

In addition to testifying before the Public Safety Committee, California RSOL actively lobbied in support of the tiered registry bill (AB 702) for two days. We met with staff and members to discuss the reasons to support the bill. During the meetings, we were told that the tide is shifting, that more elected officials understand that sex offender laws were passed in haste without regard to future unintended consequences. We were encouraged by what we heard and yet we know that there is much yet to be done. We will return to lobby in May the month in which the Appropriations Committee is expected to consider the bill. After that, the full Assembly will be asked to vote for the bill at a date not yet determined. THIS IS A CRITICAL TIME! Please contact your elected officials and let them know how important it is to support AB 702.

I haven’t seen anything on it yet, but does the new registered tier mention anything about the Megan’s Law website? I am a misdemeanor 647.6 lifetime RSO, but I was granted exclusion from the Megan’s law website of RSO’s. With this new bill, will that change? If I remember correctly, the last bill would have eliminated exclusions from Megan’s law and made it mandatory that everyone be included on the website.

Furthermore, Janice, is there any talk that misdemeanor sections such as mine will be dropped to a tier 1 status before this is passed or is it pretty set as it’s currently written?

Thank you for any input.

Dear Anthony, Anonymous Nobody, td777, and others with similar views,

Your situations suck. No doubt about that. Abolishing the registry would be great, wouldn’t it? It would be a dream-come-true. But this is the real world. And dreams don’t come true. Unfortunately, we are dealing with people who are very quite often, more interested in re-election than in righteousness. If we walk in there, if *I* walk in there, a registrant, and say: “Look, you people are insane and we want you to ABOLISH the registry”, then how do you think they are going to respond? It has taken 73 years to build this quandary of a system. Do you really think we can utterly annihilate it in a couple of sessions? This system is built on fear, misinformation, ignorance, sensationalism and even apathy. First is overcoming the fear by presenting reasonableness and coherency. Next is combating the misinformation by educating these folks with accurate information and eliminating their ignorance by providing logical arguments and real-world examples of just how impractical the registry is. The sensationalism is difficult to combat due to the media and pseudo-organizations such as Crime Victims United, constantly catastrophizing singular instances of deplorable crimes. However, some are beginning to recognize such stratagems. Apathy isn’t as hard to combat once you have a receptive audience – as long as they are willing to listen, then relating our personal experiences often provokes them to empathy. But we have to offer a reasonable compromise. With all due respect, you guys are forgetting that when we present such bills and lobby the representatives for support, we are entering a POLITICAL arena. Must I even elaborate on the games and agenda of politicians? Right now, the public is not yet educated enough. But public opinion is slowly starting to shift. Slowly. But even so.

Anonymous Nobody, I’m sorry you were convicted for crimes that you only *thought about*. Rest assured that cases like yours were discussed with some of the representatives. One Democratic member (an actual representative instead one from their staff) actually said something to the effect of ‘They’re becoming the thought-police. If people got arrested for all the bad things they thought about then we’d all be in prison!’ He said that in relation to a case similar to yours that we discussed.

Now, may I remind all of you yet again that my offense occurred as a juvenile. L&L w/ Minor Under 14, when I was only 13! Its absurd! And everyone we met with agreed. It is shocking to know that such a thing can happen. Yet even if this bill passes, I will be 40 years old before I’m off the registry. 40! How do you think that makes me feel? I was convicted when I was 20! I am being robbed of my best years. I will be middle-aged when I get off the registry if we make no further advancements after this bill passes. Yes, some will push back. But we will push back harder. I’m sorry to sound harsh when I say this, but seriously – if you want the registry abolished then get off your duff and get your rear up to the capitol! Go to the representatives’ offices and tell them that! Find another representative who is willing to write a bill like that. And for pity’s sake, pick up a copy of ‘Politics for Dummies’ while you’re at it.

Janice is working hard. She is working hard for you. YOU. She is working hard FOR YOU. She has no registrants in her family. Why does she need to do this? You all should be ashamed. Janice is an experienced attorney, what are you? Someone who sits around and reads bills and says “Poor, poor, poor ME! Poor, poor pitiful ME!” Get proactive. DO SOMETHING. You want big change? Do something about it. The law sucks. The legislation makes no sense. But for now, we have to fight fire with fire.

Did you ever go over the part about ‘finding a cause greater than yourself’ in SO Therapy? For 8 years I was just like you. But I decided that if ‘this lady’ is fighting for me and she doesn’t even know me, then maybe I ought to back her up a little bit. I’m moving waaaaaaay out of my comfort zone here. I’m a professional musician and had a public image to maintain, but that’s all over now. I have a business that is known both nationally and worldwide, as far as Japan, Australia, the UK, other parts of Europe. I’m no household name, but many people know me. I’m potentially throwing it all away to fight for the cause. But it also felt good to talk with some of the lawmakers and share my pain with them. For most of them, it hits too close to home. Especially to those with kids or family members who they are thinking about. Change will come. It will come. But frankly, Janice and the RSOL need more support. Get involved. Do something about it. What do you have to lose by writing some letters? By lobbying the capital or testifying at hearings? Put up a blog about how crappy your situation is from one day to the next. But don’t sit there and whine about how unhappy you are when these people are working tirelessly for you. Many people flew or drove into Sacramento at their own expense on Tuesday and Wednesday. Airlines, rental cars, parking garages, meal breaks…it adds up! Not to mention rising early in the morning, working until night. Answering phone calls, emails, holding meetings, going from one appointment to the next. Some people placed their customers on hold and are now dealing with angry people, jeopardizing their income because they blew everything off for 2 days. If the RSOL isn’t giving you what you want or need, then setup your own organization to handle it for you. Or go find one that does. But don’t sit in front of a computer screen and whine and complain to the ONLY PEOPLE YOU HAVE ON YOUR SIDE RIGHT NOW.

You want change? Make it happen. Find a cause greater than yourself and make it your passion. Or you can sit there and moan about ‘how bad your life sucks’, and in case you hadn’t already been told – WELCOME TO THE F***ING CLUB. Did you ever wonder if that’s how you ended up in this situation in the first place? Who and what were you thinking about when you ‘didn’t commit your offense’? Were you thinking about your family and your friends? Your potential victim? Were you thinking about the law? Or were you thinking about “ME”?

Join us in May on the steps of the capitol in Sacramento, go tell the legislators how you feel. Then after you get thrown out of their offices for such an asinine request, then you can sit here and dictate terms to Janice and the rest of us.

First I’d like to congratulate everyone that has worked so hard at getting AB702 in motion. It’s very exciting to see what can happen when a great leader and selfless volunteer like Janice Bellucci takes on a personal challenge to improve the lives of the many families that are suffering from the reckless laws that have been passed due to fear and undisputed rationale.
I don’t exactly know what tier I’ll end up on if this bill passes, I’m just happy to see progress. It’s given my spirits a boost from what they were a few years ago when I was released from prison and felt that my life was going to be one punishment handed down after another and then another. I’m on parole, wearing a GPS tracker, and have 10 pages of restrictions to abide; many of which are completely absurd and irrelevant to my initial charges. I’m standing on a narrow ledge. but it’s good to see the things that I have refuted to my Parole Officer from the beginning are coming to proof. The PO’s are just following their orders and I understand this. I just hoped I could make them question the ethics of their procedures. Jessica’s Law wasn’t on the brochure when I signed up for a Plea, Yet I’m stuck with it’s consequences.
I feel the frustrations that many feel with AB702 not being enough, but we must hang together and continue to reinforce this movement regardless of our personal agendas. “United we stand. Divided we fall.” It would be nice if they would clean the slate like they’re proposing for the 11 million illegal immigrants in this country. We could start with a new program where the tiers are determined at the time of sentencing based on all the facts of the case instead of relying on the Stat-99 or other hocus-pocus which is about as reliable as calling the Psychic Friends Network to determine a persons danger to society.