A local legislator has run into trouble trying to pass a law that would require people to register as a sex offender if they are convicted of using hidden cameras to peek or take pictures for their own sexual pleasure.

Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, ran into a wall of political opposition earlier this week. His Assembly Bill 1688 was killed in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on a party-line 3-2 vote.

But Jeffries said in a telephone interview Friday that he is not giving up on the legislation.

Jeffries characterized the measure as an attempt to catch up the law with wireless technology.

He noted that cell phone cameras are in wide use, and said that has led to growing concern about the ability to use them to invade people's privacy.

The problem surfaced on at least a couple of occasions in Southwest County already this year.

In January, a 41-year-old Murrieta man was arrested on suspicion of taking photographs under a woman's dress at a 99 Cents Only Store.

And in February, 51-year-old John Albert Kleinpeter of Murrieta pleaded guilty to using a cell phone camera last August to peek up a woman's skirt at the SuperTarget store on Clinton Keith Road.

According to the Megan's Law database maintained by the California Department of Justice, Kleinpeter is a registered sex offender as a result of an earlier offense: Assault with intent to commit a sex crime.

But the act of peeking or taking pictures with a hidden camera, which is a misdemeanor, does not trigger the need to register.

That's what Jeffries wants to change.

"A sexual predator can take a cell phone camera, film up the skirt of a young girl and have it distributed to millions on the Internet in the blink of an eye," he said. "Every parent in California would want to know if any adult their child comes in contact with was someone who had been convicted of this type of lewd behavior."

Jeffries said putting those offenders on the state's registry would signal to people that they need to be on the lookout for peekers at malls, department stores, parks and other public places.

"You're putting somebody on a watch list," he said.

Jeffries said he sponsored the bill at the request of the Riverside County district attorney.

District Attorney Rod Pacheco said that even though misdemeanor camera offenses are not in the same league as violent sex crimes, people caught doing them ought to register.

"You never know with these guys," Pacheco said.

He said people have committed minor sex crimes and, later, violent ones.

"It is a great big clue," Pacheco said. "I would rather be safe than sorry. If they're forced to register with the local police department, then the police know they're there."

Not everyone agrees skirt peekers deserve to be listed with the state's more than 63,000 sex offenders, many of whom were convicted of violent crimes.

There are 2,309 registered sex offenders in Riverside County, including 30-year-old John Albert Gardner III of Lakeland Village, who stands accused of murdering and raping, or attempting to rape the Rancho Bernardo teen who disappeared recently.

A body believed to be that of Chelsea King was found earlier this week in a shallow grave along the shore of Lake Hodges.

During a hearing on Assembly Bill 1688 this week, Assembly Public Committee Chairman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said there are too many people required to register as sex offenders as it is, and many have been stigmatized unfairly for life, according to a Republican Caucus news release.

Ammiano did not respond to a request by The Californian to explain why he voted against the measure.

In an e-mail note, he wrote only that, "It was the will of the majority of the membership of the Assembly Public Safety Committee that this bill should not be passed. I stand by my decision to oppose this bill."

Jeffries, who is not a member of the committee, said he was disappointed because opponents offered no constructive suggestions on how the bill might be made acceptable to majority Democrats.

"It was just a pure defend-the-criminals point of view and a to-hell-with-the-victims point of view," he said.

Jeffries said he is exploring ways to resurrect the measure.

One option is to ask the Assembly Rules Commission for permission to bring the bill back.

Another is to find a senator willing to attach its language to an existing bill addressing similar issues.

"If we can't find some way to get this bill or a bill that looks a lot like it back in play, we'll certainly look at it next year," he said.

Call staff writer Dave Downey at 951-676-4315, ext. 2623.