Joseph Ramagli should learn more about California before he labels it a "liberal disaster" or surreptitiously cites previous laws without knowing more about them ("New California proposal a waste of money" March 21). Some clarifications: He states, "This is the same state that has attempted to make it a crime for you to spank your children." No. The Anti-spanking Law hasn't passed, and was polled as a complete failure from the start.

Ramagli criticizes that Jessica's Law could not be applied retroactively to apply to previous sex-offenders, without considering the history of what the definition of a "sex-offender" has been and still is in some places. Example: Laws against homosexuality previously placed all gays and lesbians in the realm of "sex-offenders."

In some locations, anti-sodomy laws, prostitution laws and laws against pornography all could land someone a penalty and record as a "sex-offender," along with statutory-rape, and under Jessica's Law it would prohibit them from living within 2,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, parks, etc. A retroactive application of Jessica's Law would be impossible to enforce, and, furthermore, would negatively affect people who in today's culture we no longer consider "offenders."

California still sounds pretty crazy, right?

Let's move to immigration, Ramagli's beef with the new proposal. "What's the worst problem of all? This bill does not take into account the immigration status of the parents." Yes, it does; just not how you would like it to. The debate seems to be over whether the child is responsible for its parents' actions.

Is the child to pay for the parent's choices? Or, is the child of an illegal immigrant a child under the protection of the state like any other? The proposal's author states: "Let's get one thing straight: 90 percent of the calls and the talk radio and all the hysteria is about one issue and one issue only -- immigration," Steinberg said. "It is all about xenophobia and there is a lot of hatred out there and we need to stand up against it. A kid is a kid is a kid."

On the other hand, we can look at recent laws in Pennsylvania, such as the Illegal Immigration Relief Act of Hazleton, Penn., where race and ethnicity could be used as a basis for making a complaint.

What sort of a "disaster" should we call this?