AB 2078: Sex offenses: professional services.

Under existing law, a person who touches an intimate part of another person for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse, and the victim is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act because the perpetrator fraudulently represented that the touching served a professional purpose, is guilty of sexual battery punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year or in the state prison for 2, 3, or 4 years, and a fine not to exceed $10,000. Under existing law, the crimes of rape, sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration, when the victim was not aware, knowing, perceiving, or cognizant of the essential characteristics of the act due to the perpetrators fraudulent representation that the sexual penetration or oral copulation served a professional purpose, are punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 6, or 8 years.

This bill would expand the crime of sexual battery to apply to a person who performs professional services that entail having access to another persons body and who touches an intimate part of that persons body while performing those services, and the touching was against the persons will and for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse. The bill would expand the definitions of each of the crimes of rape, sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration to include any of those crimes performed against a victims will by a professional whose services entail having access to the victims body, if the conduct is performed by the professional while performing those services. By expanding the scope of these crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.