(The Center Square) – A bill raising the eligible age for elderly parole passed unanimously in the California Assembly on Thursday amid calls to redefine what really constitutes “elderly” in the 21st century.
Assembly Bill 2727 now goes to the Senate.
The legislation increases the age from 50 to 65 for those who are convicted of sex crimes against children. The bill also stipulates that those eligible for elderly parole have to have served 25 years of their sentence related to their sex crimes, according to a legislative analysis.
“This bill is to preserve the integrity of the elderly parole system,” Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove and author of the bill, said on the Assembly floor on Thursday. “This bill is to raise the threshold for violent sex offenses.”
The bill also strengthens the review process for those who are convicted of sex crimes and serving life sentences, Nguyen said.
“This bill will put guardrails around these individuals who qualify for elderly parole to ensure the screening is going to say they can be released out in the community and not commit another sexual violent offense,” Nguyen said.
The passage of the bill follows two high-profile cases in which men convicted of sexual crimes against children and subsequently sentenced to life in prison were eligible to get out under the state’s elderly parole program. Under current state law, those who are at least 50 years old and have served 20 years in prison can qualify for elderly parole.
Gregory Lee Vogelsang, 57, was convicted in 1999 on dozens of counts of child molestation before serving 27 years of a 355-year sentence, according to previous reporting by The Center Square. Another man, David Allen Funston, 64, was sentenced to three life sentences for his crimes. Both were recently eligible for elderly parole.
“We have to come to reality here,” Assemblymember David Tangipa, R-Fresno, said on the Assembly floor ins support of Assembly Bill 2727. “Fifty years old is considered elderly in the state of California. I don’t think 50 years old should be considered elderly.”
Both Vogelsang and Funston applied to live in the city of Fresno, part of Tangipa’s district, if they were granted elderly parole, Tangipa said during the Assembly floor session.
“They used the laws to let monsters back onto our streets,” Tangipa said. “The children of California come first before the criminals. We should protect them.”
A similar bill, Assembly Bill 2570, authored by Assemblymembers Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale and Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, also aimed to raise the minimum eligible age for child sex convicts to be granted elderly parole. That bill was scheduled for a hearing in April, but it was canceled at Lackey’s request, according to the state’s bill tracker.
“We know it’s absurd to consider somebody elderly at 50,” Lackey said on the Assembly floor. “This is something that is egregious, and I think we all agree on that.”
