Last year Assemblywoman Sally Lieber introduced her anti-spanking bill which would have made the spanking of a child by a parent or guardian a criminal offense. Thankfully that bill was shelved by the Assembly.

Not wishing to take no for an answer, Ms. Lieber is back with another version of the anti-spanking bill AB 2943. Just like last year's bill, AB 2943 wishes to make a crime out of a time honored discipline method calling for the arrest of parents who use a "switch" and causes the child "unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering."

No one wishes to justify child abuse - and there are already laws on the books that allow for the prosecution of anyone, including a parent, who abuses a child.  However, Ms. Lieber's bill goes beyond the issue of child abuse by using vague and ambiguous language to define the crime and identifies items that a child can not disciplined with such as a "switch" a tool used for centuries by parents wishing to lovingly discipline their child. 

This bill has passed the Assembly's Public Safety Committee and is before the Appropriations Committee at the writing of this post.

If you wish to oppose this silly nanny government bill, you should send your representatives and the Governor a letter in opposition. A sample is attached: