Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add a video.
(The Center Square) – A bill that would have made disrupting religious services a felony failed in a California Senate committee Tuesday after Democratic lawmakers voiced concerns about freedom of speech.
The bill in question, Senate Bill 1070, would have elevated protesting or otherwise disturbing worship services at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship to a felony. Disrupting worship is currently a misdemeanor under California law.
“These contentious times in our houses of worship, from church, synagogues, mosques, temples and every type of faith community have often become targets,” Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield and author of the bill, said at a press conference Tuesday about SB 1070. “Protesters block entrances, use vulgar slogans, yell through bullhorns, infiltrate services, shout obscenities and turn sacred places of worship into intimidation and chaos.”
SB 1070 would make disturbing a worship service punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment in county jail for anywhere from 16 months to three years.
Advocates for the bill on Tuesday morning said they know firsthand what it is like to experience a protest at a church or other place of worship.
“I speak as someone who understands what happens to a congregation when somebody violates our rights to worship peacefully,” the Rev. Greg Fairrington, lead pastor at Destiny Christian Church in Sacramento, said at the press conference. “We have seen what has happened when people believe they can invade a sacred space, harass worshippers, create fear and walk away believing there are no real consequences.”
According to research from the Public Policy Institute of California, religion-related hate crimes increased at the same time that race and ethnicity-related hate crimes decreased. Between 2020 and 2023, hate crimes against Jewish and Muslim faith communities more than doubled, the institute’s research shows.
Following the press conference, the bill received a public hearing with the Senate Public Safety Committee.
Democratic lawmakers, who make up the majority in the committee, expressed concerns that the bill would infringe on the First Amendment right to free speech.
However unpleasant, protecting free speech – even vulgar speech at a worship service – was paramount, Democrats said.
“When we start getting into regulating the content of people’s speech, it’s a slippery slope,” Sen. Jesse Arreguin, D-Berkeley and chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, said at the conclusion of the hearing.
