A powerful California Democrat who recently helped kill a Republican-backed state bill that would’ve increased criminal penalties for those found guilty of various forms of sexual assault, including rape, is staying quiet amid widespread backlash for opposing the measure.
Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, chair of the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, along with the rest of the panel’s Democrats voted last week against Bill 229, which would classify domestic violence, human trafficking, and several sex offenses as a violent crime in the state.
As a result, the bill failed to make it out of committee, despite the committee’s two Republicans voting in support of the legislation.
California Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a Democrat, speaking during the Los Angeles County Democratic Party election night drive-in watch party at the LA Zoo parking lot on Nov. 3, 2020. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Jones-Sawyer didn’t respond to Fox News Digital’s latest request for comment after similarly not responding to one last week.
The successful effort to kill the bill received backlash, both in the media and online.
“This week, CA Democrats killed a GOP bill to increase penalties for domestic violence, human trafficking & other sex crimes. Moments later, they approved a Dem bill to impose sentence enhancements on theft of property above $275k,” tweeted Emily Hoeven, a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. “If Dems aren’t going to show ideological consistency in their votes, they owe it to us to allow a wider swath of ideas to be robustly debated. Their party, which controls a legislative supermajority, has not come close to solving CA’s problems on its own.”
Hoeven was referring to the fact that shortly after Democrats on the Public Safety Committee killed Assembly Bill 229, they passed a separate measure to enhance sentences for people convicted of taking, damaging, or destroying property worth more than $275,000.
“Doesn’t really make sense to me why Capitol Democrats don’t feel like domestic violence and human trafficking should be a violent crime, but damaging property is worthy of harsher penalties,” Assembly Member Joe Patterson, the Republican who introduced AB229, told Fox News Digital last week. “Their priorities are inconsistent at best.”
Ana Fuentes, a former photographer for the New York Times, Los Angeles…
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