CA family group says spanking ban proposal not dropped
by Ed Thomas
February 27, 2007
(OneNewsNow.com) - - Family advocates in California are warning that the rewritten version of a controversial bill introduced by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber in the state legislature last week, just ahead of a submission deadline, is just as much a ban on spanking as previously alleged in media reports -- despite claims to the contrary by Lieber and liberal media outlets.Randy Thomasson, president of California's Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), says Lieber is trying to pass off AB 755, the bill she submitted to the state legislature last week, as something other than a spanking bill -- the controversy over which caused her to delay its introduction. But California residents shouldn't be fooled, says Thomasson.
Introduction of the measure was delayed by nearly a month, according to information from CCF, because of the controversy that erupted when the intent of the proposal was leaked by Lieber to the press. But Thomasson says the results of the rewording of the bill's language still criminalize spanking, and interfere with private discipline in the home.
"So now it's been re-formed and disguised as a -- quote -- 'anti-abuse' bill," explains the CCF leader, "but those 'anti-abuse' provisions are redundant with most of existing law."
And he says it applies its provisions, called "rebuttable presumptions of unjustified suffering," to parents who spank with a switch, paddle, rod or several other objects -- making them subject to charges and placing their children under court-ordered protection.
Thomasson asserts the measure does not address whether spanking with a hand is permitted, which in the future may allow a judge to interpret that as possible abuse as well, thus criminalizing parents who discipline in the manner.
