A bill to protect people on online dating apps from violence has critics arguing that the measure would put a “scarlet letter” on certain users.
But that’s a feature, not a bug in the proposal.
The Senate’s public safety committee this week passed a bill that would require online dating services to run criminal background checks on California users. If the user is a registered sex offender or has been convicted of a violent felony, domestic violence, an assault or a hate crime, the dating service must “place a flag” on the user’s profile to let others know.
Bill author Sen. Caroline Menjivar said that “dating apps have not provided an adequate level of safety for their users.” At the hearing she cited a 2019 Columbia Journalism Investigations survey that found that more than a third of women polled said they were sexually assaulted or raped by someone they met on a dating app.
The Markup, which is part of CalMatters, last year published an investigation that showed people accused of sexual violence managed to stay on the apps even after victims reported them.
- Menjivar, a Van Nuys Democrat: “If women, mostly women, continue to be raped or murdered — like another woman (who) was murdered and her body was set on fire last year after a man met her on a dating app — those are the incidents we’re looking to prevent.”
But besides labeling users with a “scarlet letter,” implementing the policy would require dating platforms to collect a significant amount of personal data to avoid misidentifying users, argued Jose Torres, a deputy executive director for the industry group TechNet.
In a rare break with his Democratic colleagues, Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco voted against the bill, saying it might have “significant unintended consequences in terms of people’s privacy.” But Wiener’s opposition, along with Republican Sen. Kelly Seyarto of Murrieta, was not enough to stop the bill from advancing out of the six-member committee, according to CalMatters Digital Democracy database.
With four Democratic lawmakers giving the green light, Menjivar said she plans to amend the measure in response to criticism related to the categories of crime and operational challenges — and that legislators are “going to see a dramatically different bill” when it’s presented to the privacy committee on April 20.
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Other Stories You Should Know
CA Dems still can’t pick a governor
Though U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit from the governor’s race narrowed the crowded field of Democratic candidates by one, the party remains anxious that it still hasn’t rallied behind a central figure to win the race, writes CalMatters’ Maya C. Miller.
With less than three weeks to go before ballots are mailed out, seven top candidates remain, splitting the Democratic vote. And major party figures, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, have refused to put their thumbs on the scale by endorsing a candidate.
This has led Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks to face criticism by party members who say he isn’t using his position to thin out the herd.
- RL Miller, a longtime delegate and chairperson of the party’s environmental caucus: “This has been incredibly frustrating … I really do believe that there has been a failure of leadership at the top.”
But Hicks says he’s “doing what is required” to make sure a Democrat wins the race. In March he penned an open letter urging candidates to drop out if they do not “have a viable path” to the general election.
Gnarly spending on bills to curb ticket prices
Support from Ticketmaster for two bills intended to curb high resale prices of tickets has critics skeptical that the measures would end up helping the ticketing behemoth kill its competition, reports CalMatters’ Cayla Mihalovich.
The Legislature is currently considering two bills that would put a 10% cap on how much resellers can mark up ticket prices and prohibit resellers from selling tickets they don’t yet own.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, is backing the bills, raising alarm among critics, which include ticket resell companies such as Seatgeek and Stubhub, but also the Consumer Federation of California
The resale companies are spending like their business depends on it. Three of them have kicked in $1.1 million on lobbying expenses this legislative session as the proposals moved forward.
- Jack Sterne, StubHub’s head of policy communications: “Passing laws that hand the Ticketmaster monopoly more power and don’t actually make tickets more affordable is the last thing California’s leaders should do.”
In a statement to CalMatters, Live Nation said that its support for the measures isn’t related to any monopoly, but instead about “protecting fans from scalpers.”
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: A tax dispute in Fontana involving frozen lasagna underscores how all forms of taxation are arbitrary and driven more by revenue outcomes than logic.
Native American books that were flagged for removal at Redwood National and State parks shows that the Trump administration’s culture war is happening in California too, writes Kerri Malloy, assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at San José State University.
Enrolling in CalFresh is confusing and laborious for some college students, and the Legislature must pass a bill to streamline the program’s outreach and prioritize clearer eligibility guidance, writes Lawrence Legaspi, a recent graduate of UC Santa Cruz.
Other things worth your time:
How Newsom boosted his book sales with $1.5M from his PAC // The New York Times
Steyer is running the most expensive campaign in America. It might win him the CA governorship // Politico
Former AOC staffer has spent $5M to succeed Pelosi — with more to come // The San Francisco Standard
Bill protecting elections from ICE advances as state lawmakers campaign against feds // The Sacramento Bee
CA officially disbars John Eastman for his role in trying to overturn 2020 election // The San Francisco Chronicle
Thousands of UC hospital, service workers plan first open-ended strike across CA // San Francisco Chronicle
The ocean off CA keeps breaking heat records // Los Angeles Times
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