Bill to send sex offender parole violators to prison fails on Party Line vote

 The first in a series of bills challenging the state's prison realignment received a cold reception today in the Assembly Public Safety Committee as members rejected legislation that would send sex offenders who violate their parole back to state prisons instead of county jails.

The 4-2 vote fell along party lines on Assembly Bill 2, which was authored by Assemblyman Mike Morrell, R-Rancho Cucamonga. Democrats voting against AB 2 cited the negative impact on the state's efforts to satisfy a court-ordered mandate to drastically reduce the prison population...

I'm astounded that they voted it down. What they are saying is that I guess they give preference to sex offenders over families. This is bad for our state."

Morrell's proposal was one of 10 bills pegged as a Republican realignment reform package. His bill called for sex offenders who fail to register with authorities as part of the condition of their parole to serve time in prison for the violation.

Other bills include AB 605 by Assemblyman Eric Linder, R-Corona, which would send sex offenders who violate any provision of their parole back to state prison, while AB 63 by Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, would sentence sex offenders and other criminals who remove their GPS tracking devices to state prison.

Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, introduced Senate Bill 57 to increase penalties for those who remove court-ordered GPS monitoring devices. Lieu isn't the only Democrat to join Republicans in introducing a bill that challenges the prison realignment.

Democratic Assembly members Susan Talamantes Eggman, of Stockton, and Ken Cooley, of Rancho Cordova, introduced Assembly Bill 601 to allow parole violators to be returned to state prison for up to one year...

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/03/assembly-committee-rejects-first-challenge-to-prison-realignment.html