Sexual battery.

Assembly Member Soria's legislation adds hospital employment status as an aggravating factor in sexual battery sentencing, expanding existing provisions that consider employer-employee relationships during criminal proceedings. The measure modifies California's Penal Code to require courts to weigh more heavily cases where defendants worked at hospitals and committed offenses against patients in their care or those seeking medical treatment.

The bill maintains current sexual battery penalties - imprisonment of two to four years in state prison and fines up to $10,000 for felony convictions, or county jail terms up to one year and $2,000 fines for misdemeanors. It preserves existing aggravating factors, including cases where defendants were employers who victimized their employees. The new hospital-specific provision operates alongside these established sentencing guidelines, providing courts an additional circumstance to consider during the penalty phase.