UPDATE 3/27: AB 558 hearing has been postponed indefinitely.
Update: AB 558 is scheduled for hearing by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on March 28.
Public Safety Committee contact info below.
Update 3/15: The hearing scheduled for March 21 has been postponed indefinitely.
Update 3/10: March 21 at 9 a.m. in Room 126 of the State Capitol. Please join us to speak in opposition to the bill. Plan to spend the entire morning there as it is one of many bills to be considered that morning.
Assembly Bill 558, which would significantly reduce the number of people who quality for exemptions from the Megan’s Law website, is expected to be considered by the Public Safety Committee later this month. Therefore, it is time to send letters and make phone calls to the members of that committee. Attached are a letter sent to Committee Chairman Jones-Sawyer about AB 558 as well as a list of committee members that includes mailing addresses and phone numbers. Please send your letters no later than March 17 if possible.
Sample Letter in Opposition to AB 558 (pdf)
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB558
Assembly Public Safety Committee
| Reginald B. Jones-Sawyer, Sr. (Chair) Dem – 59 |
Contact Assembly Member Reginald B. Jones-Sawyer, Sr. Capitol Office, Room 2117 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0059; (916) 319-2059 |
| Tom Lackey (Vice Chair) Rep – 36 |
Contact Assembly Member Tom Lackey Capitol Office, Room 2174 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0036; (916) 319-2036 |
| Jordan Cunningham Rep – 35 |
Contact Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham Capitol Office, Room 4102 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0035; (916) 319-2035 |
| Lorena S. Gonzalez Fletcher Dem – 80 |
Contact Assembly Member Lorena S. Gonzalez Fletcher Capitol Office, Room 2114 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0080; (916) 319-2080 |
| Bill Quirk Dem – 20 |
Contact Assembly Member Bill Quirk Capitol Office, Room 2163 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0020; (916) 319-2020 |
| Blanca E. Rubio Dem – 48 |
Contact Assembly Member Blanca E. Rubio Capitol Office, Room 5175 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0048; (916) 319-2048 |
| Miguel Santiago Dem – 53 |
Contact Assembly Member Miguel Santiago Capitol Office, Room 6027 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0053; (916) 319-2053 |
Related
Bill Would Eliminate Exclusions from Megan’s Law Website (AB 558)
Thanks so much for this info!
Is there any official word yet on whether this would be retroactively applied?
I sent out my letters today! I hope for the best 🙂
Is there a MS Word version of this letter?
I’m not a California resident but wanted to help in opposing the bill. I tried entering the jist of the sample letter on a web contact form for Sawyer, but it denied me based on zipcode.
I welcome advice in how to help you oppose the bill. Keep up your efforts!
I called the office today.
The guy who answered said the best way to contact ALL the committee members is to email him.
That email is: arnell.rusanganwa@asm.ca.gov
If you contact individual members, they won’t even listen to you if you’re not in their district.
retroactive?
Will there be an opportunity to speak against this bill with the Public Safety Committee?
A similar version of this bill AB2569 apparently died on the floor. Does anyone know the circumstance of how that bill died/was defeated?
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2569
It seems that AB558 is not getting the same attention AB2569 did but it’s even worse due to being retroactively applied. I will be making my calls and sending many letters and hope others supporting this cause do the same!
So this bill would clutter the already unmanageable Megan’s law list even more? I will send letters soon.
Janice’s sample letter is really good, of course, but it would not sound like anything I could or would write and I want it to be more suited to my style of writing. Does anyone have a sample letter they sent? Thanks.
As someone noted before, will there be a chance to speak against this Bill?
If the PSC passes when will it likely be scheduled to be put before the Legislature? Will there be time to lobby for at least amending the Bill so that it isn’t retroactive?
This is a terrible Bill that only punishes the extended families of those already dealing with the registry in a needless, cruel and overly-punitive manner. It’s a move by Sharon Quirk-Silva to pad her political resume but she isn’t taking into account that it will immediately harm thousands and thousands of people.
When will it be understood that the registry and the website causes more harm and ultimately more danger to society than it does any good?
Let’s Make America Great Again! When I had my legal issue 20 some years ago, I respected the DA! She was very professional. I served some time in county and I was shocked by what I say! I witnessed officer abuse, harassment, officers lying and I was eventually put in protective custody! I possess a graduate degree and my minor is in Psych/Soc! Some years later, LA County jail was investigated by the FBI and the rest is history! The Judicial System her in California is overwhelmed. Many return year after year. The Courts sentence the individual, put them behind bars, treat the inmates like animals and later wonder why many return to a life of crime (jobless, harassment, lack of education/housing). I had never met someone incapable of reading/or writing until I went to jail. Society needs to change. I had always believed the US was a country of compassion. These lawmakers need to get with the program, educate themselves and think before they act! Changes like this could destroy a family! Wake up America!
There is precedent from a Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that states that adding individuals to a registry after the fact may be construed as “additional punishment.” This should be a major factor to defeating this bill, especially through Legal.
http://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/2014/sjc-11520.html
so when was done done with my 6 months in county I was given the form to be relieved from megans website, that was 20 years ago, but I never submitted that form, my local PD submitted the same form last year on my yearly update but the officer said they are way backed up, so my question for Janet if i was available back 20 years why wouldn’t i be able to be excluded from the site now? this was a 1 time incident in my life, was not forced, i knew the girl, I just took the deal to register because I was 19 and completely naive and new into the system.
Janice or Moderator,
If this gets passed through by the Public Safety Comm. what will be our options from that point and the timeline involved?
Would AB 558 get effectively negated by the Tiered Registry bill if it gets passed?
I just saw a hearing by this committee on the California channel. The chairman is incredibly weak. He sides with the republicans on every single issue, even bills considering disorderly conduct. It will probably pass this committee for that reason. We need to pay even closer attention to Ms. Skinner on the senate side.
My letter was mailed today. They are not wordy and direct to the point.
So the hearing date is postponed indefinitely? What does this mean? Is this good news?
The “Bill Status” of AB 558 on the California Legislative Information Page has no new info, where was the postponement posted?
Should we still make calls and send letters?
On the California Legislative website it still has no word on the postponement – it says the hearing is on 3/28/17.
Should this be disregarded?
So, is it on the 28th or has it been postponed indefinitely?
OK, everyone.
I emailed the Public Safety Committee office today, March 20. Arnell, the guy who works there, said the bill is going to be heard on the 28th.
This is terrible news but thanks for getting official word.
I wonder why this had been postponed at all but I suppose it doesn’t matter at this point.
When should we get our letters and calls in by?
Will there be a gathering on the 28th to state our opposition to the Bill?
Glad I mailed my letters in anyway. Which brings up a thought. Maybe we shouldn’t wait for laws to come out before sending letters to legislators. We should send the thoughts we share here to their offices all the time. Send questions to the departments tha run this registry and demand answers. Sure, we should go to Sacramento for formal lobbying if we can, but many can’t for various legitimate reasons. Therefore write letters to the people making decisions. Send videos? Influence the dialogue with many registrant voices. Throw in a few references to studies or personal experiences. Keep it going andmake the registry a burden to those who favor it, as it has been a torment to us. Hey, many here write several paragraphs with great arguments. The legislators aren’t going to this site or the others for ex offenders and they need to hear this. The sites need to go to them.
In this Match, Surprises are expected.