Senate Panel Approves AIDS Crime Bill : Legislature: The measure, which seeks a life sentence for intentionally spreading the virus, may face strong opposition in the Assembly.

Abill by state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) to criminalize the spread of AIDS has won approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee but could meet strong opposition in the Assembly, political observers said Wednesday.

Davis and five fellow committee members voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of the bill, which proposes a life prison sentence for anyone convicted of intentionally spreading AIDS to another person through sex or use of a hypodermic needle.

The original version also proposed a state prison sentence of three to nine years for anyone convicted of exposing another person without specific intent to infect them. The committee reduced that sentence to two to four years.

The original bill also proposed a possible felony conviction for anyone with the AIDS virus who is found guilty of having sex with another person despite wearing a condom. The Judiciary Committee changed that class of offense to a misdemeanor.

“I have fairly high hopes for it in both Appropriations and on the Senate floor,” said Charles Fennessey, Davis’ legal consultant.

But if the bill is passed in the Senate, it must enter the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, which has often rejected similar legislation, Fennessey said.

Davis proposed the bill after the Ventura County grand jury indicted a 45-year-old Santa Barbara man on Jan. 10 for allegedly spreading the AIDS virus.

David Scott Crother was indicted on 15 counts of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly infecting a woman and the child she gave birth to with the AIDS virus. The state Court of Appeal is considering whether Crother should be granted a preliminary hearing.

Davis’ bill attracted opponents almost immediately.

The California Nurses Assn. has opposed it since it was introduced.

The American Civil Liberties Union objected strongly to it since Davis announced that he was drafting it, and ACLU lobbyist Margaret Pena said the bill’s chances of passing through the Assembly are “slim to none.”

The bill may meet opposition in the Senate Appropriations Committee because it provides for court-ordered tests to determine if defendants and victims have AIDS, Pena said.

“It could be very costly just to pursue these cases,” she said. Any time a new crime is added to California law, “there’s a significant cost to the state,” Pena said.

California Attorneys for Criminal Justice also opposes the bill, said that group’s lobbyist, Melissa Nappan.

Existing laws against attempted murder and assault could be used to prosecute allegations that someone intentionally spread AIDS to another person through sex or needle use, Nappan said.

“We’re also concerned that people would not seek voluntary testing” if the bill were made law, she said. “With a crime hanging over their heads, they might not be willing to inform their partners.

“We also don’t think it’s much of a deterrent for stemming the spread of the virus,” Nappan said. “Criminal law has very little effect on people’s sexual and drug behaviors.”