California has no law stopping registered sex offenders from running for city council, school board, or the state legislature — and a State Senate committee just voted to keep it that way.
Story Snapshot
- A California bill to ban registered sex offenders from running for public office was killed by a State Senate committee on July 1, 2026.
- Senate Elections Committee Chair Scott Wiener led the opposition, demanding the ban apply only to the most serious lifetime offenders.
- The bill’s author, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria, refused the watered-down version and the bill died in a near-tie vote.
- A replacement bill advanced by the committee still allows people convicted of felony child sex crimes, including rape, to run for office.
A Sex Offender Tried to Run for Fresno City Council
The story starts in Fresno in early 2023. Rene Campos, a registered sex offender convicted in 2018 for possessing child sexual abuse material, announced he was running for Fresno City Council. He failed to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot, so voters never had to make that choice. But the attempt was enough to alarm the community — and one lawmaker decided to act.
Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria of Merced introduced Assembly Bill 2753 in early 2026. The bill was simple: no registered sex offender could run for or hold any local or state public office in California. Soria put it plainly: “Currently, no law or statute in California prohibits registered sex offenders from running for any local or state public office.” That gap in the law shocked many people. It still does.
The bill passed the Assembly Elections Committee in April 2026. Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza traveled to Sacramento to testify in support. The momentum looked real. Then it hit the State Senate — and ran straight into Senator Scott Wiener.
Senator Wiener Demanded a Weaker Bill — Then Killed the Stronger One
Wiener chairs the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee. He said he would only support the bill if it applied solely to Tier 3 offenders — those on the registry for life, convicted of crimes like rape, sex trafficking of minors, and sex crimes against children under 10. California’s registry has three tiers. Tier 1 covers about 65,000 people, including those convicted of misdemeanor possession of child pornography. Tier 2 covers roughly 24,000 people, including those convicted of lewd acts with a minor. Tier 3 covers around 8,000 of the most serious offenders.
Soria rejected the amendment. She argued that limiting the ban to only Tier 3 offenders would leave too many dangerous people free to seek power over communities. The committee voted, the bill fell in a near-tie, and it was dead. Lawmakers then left for a month-long summer recess.
What the Committee Advanced Instead Is Hard to Defend
Here is where common sense takes a hard hit. The same committee that killed Soria’s bill advanced a different, weaker bill authored by Assembly Member Don Addis. That bill was changed so that people convicted of felony child sex crimes — including rape — can still run for city council, school board, and the state legislature. Read that again. The replacement bill does not stop a convicted child rapist from running for a seat on your local school board.
Scott Wiener accused of pushing for exceptions in bill allowing sex offenders to serve in office | Titus Wu, New York Post
The progressive frontrunner to win Nancy Pelosi’s California congressional seat has been accused of adding shocking exceptions for pedophiles to a proposed… pic.twitter.com/QLZICPTKWV
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) July 1, 2026
Wiener’s office pointed to “Romeo and Juliet” cases — situations where two teenagers close in age are involved in a consensual relationship and one ends up on the registry. That is a real concern worth addressing with a targeted fix. But using that edge case to justify letting felony child sex crime convicts run for public office is a logical leap that does not hold up. A narrow exemption for consensual teen cases is a workable solution. Gutting the entire bill is not a solution — it is a surrender.
The Replacement Bill Protects Offenders, Not Communities
Campos, the Fresno offender who started all of this, called the bill “a political weapon aimed at me.” That framing deserves scrutiny. A bill that applies to every registered sex offender in California is, by definition, not a targeted attack on one person. The argument collapses under its own weight. What is harder to dismiss is the outcome: California’s Senate committee had a clear path to protect communities and chose a narrower road that leaves serious offenders free to seek elected power.
Soria made a promise to her community after Campos tried to run. She kept her end of the deal. The Senate committee did not keep theirs. When lawmakers return from recess, Soria has signaled she intends to try again. The question is whether California’s legislature will find the political will to close a gap that, frankly, should never have existed in the first place.
Sources:
redstate.com, fresnobee.com, legiscan.com, facebook.com, calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org
