Sexual exploitation by a member of the clergy.

Existing law provides that a person commits a sexual battery who, among other things, acts with the intent to cause a harmful or offensive contact with an intimate part, as defined, of another that directly or indirectly results in a sexually offensive contact with that person. The law makes a person who commits a sexual battery pursuant to those provisions liable for damages and equitable relief. Existing law establishes the defense of consent in civil actions. This bill would prohibit the defense that the adult congregant consented to sexual contact in a civil action involving sexual contact between a member of the clergy and an adult congregant. Existing law prohibits the touching of an intimate part, as defined, of another person if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the specific purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse. Existing law makes a physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor who engages in specified sexual acts or sexual contact with a patient or client guilty of sexual exploitation and makes a violation of those provisions a crime, except as specified. A violation of this prohibition is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would make a member of the clergy, as defined, who engages in specified sexual acts or contact with an adult congregant, as specified, guilty of sexual exploitation by a member of the clergy. The bill would specify that consent is not a defense to a violation of that provision and would make the crime punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. The bill would also specify that it does not apply to sexual contact between a member of the clergy and their spouse or person in an equivalent domestic relationship. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.