Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with House amendments and pass a bill that expands the scope of crime for rape and removes the spousal clause in California.

Highlights:

• Defines "rape" as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished under any of the following circumstances (Sec. 1): 

• If a person is at the time incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent, and this is known or reasonably should be known to the person committing the act; 

• If it is accomplished against a person’s will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the person or another;

• If the person is prevented from resisting by an intoxicating or anesthetic substance or a controlled substance, and this condition was known, or should have reasonably been known, by the accused;

• If the person is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act, and this is known to the accused;

• If a person submits under the belief that the person committing the act is someone known to the victim other than the accused, and this belief is induced by artifice, pretense, or concealment practiced by the accused, with the intent to induce the belief; 

• If the act is accomplished against the victim’s will by threatening to retaliate in the future against the victim or any other person, and there is a reasonable possibility that the perpetrator will execute the threat; or 

• If the act is accomplished against the victim’s will by threatening to use the authority of a public official to incarcerate, arrest, or deport the victim or another, and the victim has a reasonable belief that the perpetrator is a public official.

• Repeals the spousal exception in the State definition of rape (Sec. 1). 

Full Bill Text