Assembly to tackle sexual harassment

Lawmakers will hold public hearings after reports of pervasive abuse at Capitol.

SACRAMENTO — The California Assembly will hold public hearings next month to address sexual harassment in the Capitol, Democratic lawmakers announced Tuesday, as allegations of pervasive mistreatment continue to ripple through Sacramento.

The announcement comes one day after the California Senate announced it has hired lawyers and human resources consultants to investigate allegations of widespread sexual harassment and evaluate Senate procedures.

In a joint statement, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova) and Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) said that “sexual harassment of any kind is intolerable.”

The lawmakers say a three-pronged approach is necessary to confront the issue: changing a climate that has been permissive to sexual harassment, offering victims have a safe place to discuss complaints and ensuring that “sexual harassment is dealt with expeditiously and that the seriousness of consequences match the violations committed,” they said in a statement.

Vowing a “comprehensive effort” to address these issues, lawmakers said there will be public hearings in November to discuss how the Legislature can tackle the issue. The panel, tasked to discuss harassment, discrimination and retaliation prevention and response, is chaired by Friedman and was formed in June, though it has not yet met.

The panel is a subcommittee of the powerful Rules committee, chaired by Cooley, which functions as the chamber’s de facto human resources department.

“As we move forward, we must remember that the bottom line is harassers need to stop their abusive actions,” the statement said. “The rest of us need to call out harassment and abuse by its name and stigmatize this behavior each and every single time we see it.”

Adama Iwu, who helped organize the public letter published last week decrying an atmosphere of sexual harassment in the Capitol, said she and some of the women who signed the letter were concerned if any victim would be asked to testify “with no legal guarantee against retaliation.

“Furthermore, we are concerned about the divergent paths of the Assembly and Senate,” Iwu said in a statement. “It is imperative that we work with outside experts, as part of a public independent review with whistleblower protections, to address the pervasive culture of sexual harassment in the Capitol community.”

Meanwhile, the trade association representing lobbyists, the Institute of Governmental Advocates, said in a statement Tuesday that it “unequivocally supports [the women who signed the letter] and any other person in our Capitol community who has suffered harassment.”

Dates for the hearings, which are expected in late November, have not been set.