Sunday, August 15, 2010

A closer look...

For kicks I thought I'd take a look at a new law proposed by an Assemblyman in California, from the Entertainment Page at the LA Times...

A proposed law set to go before California's Legislature this month would make one of Hollywood's cherished utterances — "You're not on the list" — carry grave new consequences. It's a measure aimed at making the act of party crashing a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

Hmmm... Party crashing...

The author of the legislation, Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge), said crashers at high-profile events like the Academy Awards and other awards shows pose a threat to public safety that warrants a law in addition to the 25 sections of trespassing code already on California's books. Portantino acted at the request of the Screen Actors Guild after some crashers breached security at the SAG Awards in January but were released because of legal loopholes.

Hmmm again... Legal loopholes... interesting...

"At some awards shows, folks were there without a ticket or credentials; they were asked to leave, and they didn't," Portantino said. "The question was raised whether current trespassing laws were written in a way that covers that sort of situation. We're trying to bring clarity to the whole issue so law enforcement knows how to and has the discretion to handle it."

Wow, discretion for law enforcement... asked to leave but didn't...

Living not in Southern California it is prolly real easy for me to overlook the real problems like party crashing and all the ill affects for the Hollywood jet set.  I guess I just take my life as a regular guy for granted and wouldn't normally notice those that carry the burdens of the extra cost for security and all that at these shin-digs.

Yet I live in Arizona and the story above sure sounds familiar.  I believe our elected leaders passed a bill that would, in essence, deal with people 'not on the list' so to speak.  In fact I remember several elected leaders speak to the threats to public safety if nothing was done.  Heck they even said that they acted at the request of the voters in Arizona that have been asking for help in dealing with problems regarding the issue.  I even remember media articles raising the questions what happens when the folks trespassing in Arizona are asked to leave, far too often the answers tell us those asked to leave do not.  In my opinion the law written would have helped to bring clarity to the whole issue so law enforcement knows how to and has the discretion to handle it.

And by the way... weren't there some communities in California threatening to boycott Arizona for the law we passed??

The lawmaker folks in California need to look up the word hypocrite before they pass the law that was introduced.  I mean I can't tell who is a party crasher or not just by appearance... sounds awfully close to something called profiling.

Lastly, would this law make party crashing... illegal??  Think about it.

1 comment:

Alex Cortez said...

LOL, crazy Californians. And that they wanted to boycott AZ for enforcing federal laws (when the federal gov'ment wouldn't) is right up their alley.