-An Inland Empire legislator wants to make it easier to penalize people who make threats affecting schools or places of worship.

The proposal by State Senator Susan Rubio, a Democrat from West Covina, has stirred up broad opposition as well as support from dozens of organizations.

Existing law already says it is a crime to make a threat about something that could result in death or great bodily injury to someone.

If the threat is unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific and causes sustained fear in a person, the crime is a misdemeanor or a felony.

Rubio said she championed this bill to highlight the location of the threat rather than the victim of the threat.

She said that phoned-in or texted threats often waste time and money for schools and first responders and traumatize people.

There's disagreement about whether a new law is needed.

Opponents point out that this bill is similar to existing law.

Rubio said existing law has too many loopholes, but this bill would give authorities more options.

Groups representing children pointed out that young people often make threats they don't mean and don't consider the legal consequences.

A new law, they fear, will make schools even more of a conduit to incarceration for some students.

Rubio said her proposed bill specifies that perpetrators who are under 18 would be charged with misdemeanors, not felonies, to strike a balance between accountability and keeping young people on a path toward growth, not incarceration.

The bill passed the Public Safety Committee six to zero in March.

In early April, it was placed on the Appropriations Committee's suspense file, where most bills that cost extra money go.

For CalMatters, I'm Denise Amos.