SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Democrats have made a push to change the state’s elderly parole law after several controversial decisions by the state’s Board of Parole Hearings earlier this year.

Assembly member Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, scored a victory Tuesday when the Assembly Public Safety Committee approved her bill that would limit who could be eligible for an elderly parole hearing. Nguyen brought forward Assembly Bill 2727 in the days after the public was made aware of the case of David Allen Funston, who was convicted of kidnapping and sexually abusing children in the Sacramento area in the 1990s.

“The scales of justice should be balanced,” said committee chairman Nick Schultz, D-Burbank. “It shouldn’t be weighted so heavily that one side feels they have no voice at the table. I believe this bill furthers that purpose — balances the scales.”

Schulz recommended his fellow legislators pass the bill, and they did so, with five assembly members voting yes in the initial round of votes. It goes next to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

The bill’s movement represents the Democratic response to a powerful Republican outcry following the board’s decision to release Funston and Gregory Lee Vogelsang, a 57-year-old man convicted of similar crimes in Citrus Heights. Both men were sentenced to multiple life terms, but were eligible for a parole hearing through the state’s Elderly Parole Program, whereby people over 50 who have served 20 consecutive years can go before the board.

Republicans put forward at least four bills in the aftermath of the decisions, including one that would raise the minimum age to be eligible for elderly parole from 50 to 65. Nguyen’s bill is more narrow, forbidding people who have committed repeated and/or violent sexual crimes against children from being eligible for elderly parole until they are 65 and have served 25 consecutive years. It was Nguyen’s second time bringing forward a bill to exclude people from the elderly parole program. Her last attempt died in appropriations last year.

Neither Funston or Vogelsang have been released from law enforcement custody. Funston is being held in the Placer County Jail on charges stemming from a Roseville incident 30 years ago, and the Board of Parole Hearings recently voted to review their decision in Vogelsang’s case.

Nguyen’s bill is co-sponsored by the Orange County and Sacramento County District Attorneys, the latter of whom, Thien Ho, has been a vocal advocate for law change in the region.

“Many of the individuals being released have not completed the programs necessary to make sure that they are rehabilitated, and in many cases, these programs aren’t even in place to be able to assist those individuals,” Ho told the committee.

A fact sheet issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation states the parole board “must consider all relevant and reliable evidence and determine whether releasing the person would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society.”

Nguyen was also joined by a woman, who testified during Funston’s trial that she was groped and cornered by Funston in 1996, when she was 7.

“He is only 64. He will never, he will never stop hurting children. He is dangerous,” she said to the committee, at times emotional. “Please fix this terrible law.”

Opponents to the bill included Keith Wattley, executive director of the law firm UnCommon Law, which advocates for changes to the parole process. In an interview after the hearing, Wattley said he was disappointed, but not surprised, that legislators let rhetoric and emotion override data showing extremely low recidivism for people who are released under the elderly parole program.

“It’s a reflection of the survivor’s fear and anger. We can’t let that drive our policy decisions that are supposed to be based on actual risk — currently, not 30 years ago.”

About 25 other criminal justice reform organizations registered opposition to the bill.

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