Mother Lode Senator’s Rape Bill Clears Hurdle

Photo by: BJ Hansen

Sacramento, CA – A rape bill authored by Mother Lode State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil to protect victims has cleared a major hurdle.

Today, the California State Assembly Appropriations Committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 268, which will close a loophole in current law that allows certain rapists to receive preferential treatment in sentencing and early release proceedings.

Senator Alvarado-Gil has noted that she is a victim of sexual assault, and the bill has received widespread support from legislators and victims’ rights groups on all sides of the political spectrum.

“I sincerely appreciate the bipartisan, positive vote of the members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee today,” said Senator Alvarado-Gil. “This is not a victory for me, it is a victory for her, for him, and for all the victims of rape who are served half portions of justice by the current system. No rape is less serious than the other. No rape is more acceptable than another. And no law should tell a victim that what happened to them is not as significant as what happened to someone else. Today, we took a huge step away from that, and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Senate Bill 268 classifies the rape of an intoxicated person as a violent felony. By reclassifying it as such, criminals whose victims are intoxicated would be eligible for sentencing enhancements and ineligible for early release. The bill now moves to the Assembly Floor for a full vote in that house.

As reported earlier, this week Alvarado-Gil announced she was moving to the Republican Party. Shortly afterward, she was stripped of all her committee assignments by Democratic Party leaders and voiced concern about retaliation that could include not passing several of her bills.