cyberjesus, you are so succinct.
This Bill was conceived as a result of two court cases before the California Supreme Court. The first case was People v. Hofsheier (2004), 37 Cal. 4th 1185. The second case was Johnson v. Department of Justice (2015), 60 Cal. 4th 871.
The Hofsheier case involved a 22-year old offender who was convicted of oral copulation with a 16-year old. Both the prosecutor and the judge agreed that the mandatory registration for oral copulation was inconsistent with the discretionary registration for vaginal intercourse.
Both the Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court held that the mandatory registration for oral copulation was a violation of the defendant’s Constitutional right to Equal Protection under the law. Specifically, the Supreme Court ruled that the government had no legitimate reason to treat these similarly situated offenses differently.
The Johnson case involved a 27-year old who had pleaded guilty to oral copulation with a minor under 16 and was sentenced to two years in prison with mandatory registration. Johnson appealed the mandatory registration as it was inconsistent with discretionary registration in a case of vaginal intercourse (equal protection rights). The Supreme court over-ruled Hofsheier and rejected the appeal, maintaining that oral/anal sex is not similar to vaginal sex because intercourse carries the potential of pregnancy and parenthood.
As a result of these two conflicting decisions, the lawmakers explain their rationale for this Bill which we can read in the Senate Floor Analyses (the first link dated 08/31/20). In conclusion, they write: :
Putting aside the Court’s findings, the treatment of these offenses differently is inherently discriminatory. Sexual acts that could result in pregnancy are treated more leniently than those that could not result in pregnancy. Some partners are incapable of achieving conception. The Johnson decision cited that fact that the Legislature has failed to act to remedy the inconsistency as a rationale to continue to discriminate amongst these offenses for the purpose mandating registration. If the issue of inconsistency is going to be resolved it must therefore be accomplished by the action of the California Legislature.