State Senate panel rejects ‘Amber’s Law’ proposal

Legislation aimed at requiring registered sex offenders to have distinctive driver’s licenses was rejected in the state Senate Transportation Committee, it was reported Wednesday.

Maurice “Moe” Dubois, the father of slain Escondido teenager Amber Dubois, has been working with Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, to come up with legislation for better coordinating law enforcement efforts when a child is abducted.

On Tuesday, senators voted to reject the legislation 5-2 along party lines, with Democrats opposed, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Committee members worried over how such a law might brand minor offenders. They also complained that it did not include penalties for noncompliance, the newspaper reported.

“They brought up some points that we have to recognize are valid. We will have to rework it,” Dubois said after testifying before the committee.

The Dubois spent more than a year looking for their 14-year-old daughter, who disappeared in Feb. 13, 2009 while walking to Escondido High School.

After his arrest for the Feb. 25 rape and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King, sex offender John Albert Gardner III led authorities to Amber’s remains in Pala.