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Anderson reacts to draft proposal on sexual harassment response

SACRAMENTO – State Sen. Joel Anderson, R-CA 38, reacted June 15, to the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response draft recommendations released earlier that day.

“Although there is much more work still to be done, I hope finally receiving this draft proposal is encouraging to the women of the Capitol community who have been waiting since January to hear from Legislative leadership how they plan to address a culture where predators have been protected and allowed to operate in secrecy,” Anderson said.

“The draft recommendations set aspirational policies to create a safer work environment for all moving forward; however, they fail to address existing protections for accused or substantiated predators under our dome,” he said. “As long as the Rules Committees are empowered to enforce existing NDAs, this institution continues to shield abusers and place our employees at risk.”

In February, Anderson introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 102 to prohibit the Senate or Assembly Rules Committees from negotiating or signing confidentiality agreements, including a severance agreement settling a claim for sexual harassment or abuse that contains a confidentiality provision.

SCR-102 would also prohibit the use of taxpayers’ money to enforce this type of confidentiality provision contained within a previously executed settlement agreement.

The Senate Rules Committee has so far not allowed a hearing or vote on SCR-102.

“I’m glad that the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response recognizes that the public has a right to know about any new sexual harassment investigations and their outcome; however, not one more dime of public money should go into enforcing previous NDAs. I’m hopeful the subcommittee will recommend the legislature pass SCR-102 when finalizing their recommendations,” Anderson said.

 

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