SACRAMENTO (AP) – A California legislative committee passed two bills June 18 that would allow the state to revoke licenses from teachers who plead no contest to certain sex crimes or drug offenses or have had their licenses revoked in another state.

The bills by Sen. Bob Margett, R-Arcadia, and Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, close loopholes in California’s teacher credentialing system that had allowed some teachers to stay in the classroom after they have been accused or even convicted of serious crimes.

In unanimously approving both bills, the Assembly Education Committee rejected arguments from the California Teachers Association, which opposed the legislation.

The ACLU and the gay-rights group Equality California also opposed Margett’s bill. They argued that it could unfairly punish gay men caught soliciting or having sex with other adult men in public bathrooms. That conduct gained attention after U.S. Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested for solicitation at the Minneapolis airport last year.

ACLU attorney Valerie Navarro noted that people who are arrested for soliciting a prostitute get a review of their case before the California Teacher Credentialing Commission.

“People who are in the very same situation but are hanging around a bathroom asking for sex do not,” she testified.

Both bills were prompted by an Associated Press investigation last year into sexual misconduct by teachers. That report found 2,570 educators nationwide whose teaching credentials had been revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned between 2001 and 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct.

The AP’s investigation in California confirmed at least 313 cases in which teachers had been punished for sexual misconduct. That included dozens involving pleas of no contest, a common legal agreement that allows a defendant to avoid a trial or civil liability but still leads to conviction.

In an analysis submitted with Margett’s bill, the credentialing commission said about 60 of the approximately 90 teachers each year who are convicted of a crime that requires mandatory action – either suspension or revocation of their license – plead no contest.

That triggers a discretionary review by the commission, rather than an automatic revocation of their license.

Susan King, an attorney for the state Attorney General’s office who testified on behalf of both bills, said it is often difficult to track down reluctant victims to testify in such cases.

“We are obligated to almost retry the criminal case, which is very traumatic for the victims,” she said.

Scott said those reviews can sometimes take two or three years, putting students at risk while the teachers remain in the classroom. His bill also would revoke a teacher’s permit if their contact with children is restricted as a condition of their parole.

Scott objected to an argument by Jon-Paul Valcarenghi, an attorney for the California Teachers Association who said parents caught up in paternity suits could be affected by the change in law. Scott said he already revised the bill to address that concern.

“We’re not talking about sending someone to prison. We’re talking about a privilege of teaching children, and this is something I think we have to take very seriously,” Scott said.

Margett’s bill also would extend the statute of limitations for disclosing past teacher misconduct.

Under California law, the results of misconduct allegations are sealed by the credentialing commission after one year. That restricts school administrators’ ability to confirm teaching candidates’ full record if they learn later that the applicant lied about his or her background.

Margett’s legislation makes the records available for five years instead of one year.

The Teacher Credentialing Commission sponsored the bills after the AP published the results of its seven-month investigation last year.

Both bills unanimously passed the state Senate. They now go to the full Assembly for approval.