Bill bars ‘idiots’ in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Lawmakers are poised to make it official: No more idiots, lunatics or imbeciles – in California’s law books.

Not everyone is a genius, perhaps, but pending legislation would ensure that nobody is a dunce in the eyes of the law.

Assembly Bill 1640 would remove from old statutes words that are derogatory now but once were commonly used to describe people with mental disabilities.

“Language matters – and they’re absolutely hurtful,” said state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. “I cringe even repeating them.”

The legislation, by Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, R-Oroville, was approved unanimously last week by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

LaMalfa said the words reflect how society, its popular speech and its insults have changed through the generations.

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines an “idiot” as someone with an IQ of less than 25, while an “imbecile’s” score is 25 to 50.

But most Americans, perhaps, now think of an idiot as a tailgating driver or someone who throws litter onto a pristine beach, for example.

“I think it’s time to change the code,” LaMalfa said.

Under AB 1640, idiots no longer would be one of six classes of people incapable of committing crimes – the exception would apply to the “mentally incapacitated.”

Similarly, incurable “imbecility” would not be deemed a total disability, but incurable “mental incapacity” would.

The crime of soliciting “lunatics or idiots” to break laws would be eliminated, but the same penalty would apply for enticing “persons who are mentally incapacitated.”

AB 1640 targets two provisions in the state penal code, sections 26 and 31; one in the Labor Code, 4662; and one in the Harbors and Navigation Code, 4005.

Teresa Favuzzi, director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers, said changing the way that institutions use offensive language is a step toward changing attitudes.

“I think people genuinely want to treat people with respect,” she said. “But when (hurtful) language like this is perpetuated, that’s what people hear and that’s what people use.”

Steinberg, author of Proposition 63, a 2004 ballot measure to expand services for the mentally ill, said AB 1640 is important even if few people are likely to read the offensive words.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether these words are embedded deep in a California code,” Steinberg said. “They don’t belong there – period.”

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, said he is not surprised that words like “idiot,” “lunatic” and “imbecility” exist in old statutes that lawmakers don’t routinely scour.

“We try to clean them up as fast as we can,” he said. “But, really, if they’re not having a negative impact, then frankly our concern is transportation, health care, housing and public safety. Cleaning up code sections is important, but there’s other stuff we need to work on.”