SACRAMENTO - State workers could end up paying a fine of $1,000 a day for viewing pornography on state-owned computers, under the terms of a bill that cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday.
Right now, state workers who spend their time cruising pornographic Web sites and chat rooms are only subject to disciplinary action, which can vary among agencies.
Assembly Bill 546 by Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, [pictured] would set a state governmentwide penalty of civil fines and make it illegal for all state employees who engage in this activity.
"The current formula of setting your own policies (by each agency) really is not fair to the employee because the discipline is uneven," Garcia said. "We want a set policy that is statewide."
AB 546 next goes to the full Assembly. The bill, which includes elected officials, makes exceptions for scientific, medical, academic and legislative research as well as investigations by law enforcement agencies.
Under terms of the bill, state managers who suspect a worker of viewing obscene material would first investigate the case and then turn evidence of likely offenses over to the attorney general or district attorneys for prosecution.
The penalty is up to $1,000 a day plus three times the value of illegal use of the computers. The offending employee also still could face disciplinary action.
