California Senate committee rejects offender office ban

A California State Senate committee has rejected a bill that would have barred anyone listed on the state's sex offender registry from running for elected office. The proposal, Assembly Bill 2753, failed in the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, by a vote of 2-1-2.

The bill's defeat came after it had passed the State Assembly unanimously in May. Democratic Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria of Fresno authored the legislation in response to a local case where a registered sex offender, Rene Campos, attempted to run for Fresno City Council. Campos had pleaded no contest in 2018 to a misdemeanor charge of possessing child sexual abuse material.

In the Senate committee, the lone Republican, Steve Choi of Irvine, and Democrat Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside voted in favor. Committee Chairman Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, voted against the measure. Two other Democratic senators, Tom Umberg of Santa Ana and Ben Allen of Santa Monica, abstained. The bill failed because it did not receive a majority from the five-member panel.

Wiener, who is considered a frontrunner for a congressional seat, expressed concerns about the bill's...