How can you pass a law legalizing something that is already legal?

Ranger4402: How can you pass a law legalizing something that is already legal?
About five years ago the California legislature passed a law making it legal to breast feed a baby in public. Regardless of your view on public breast feeding, babies get hungry and they need to be fed. So what’s my dumb question?

In California it was never illegal to breast feed a baby in public.

How can you pass a law legalizing something that is already legal? If something is not against the law then it is legal. Right?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Sam Jones
I think it means that breast feeding is not shown as a sign of indecent exposure.

Maybe there was some confusion on the law and the government just wanted to clear it up?

I’m from the UK so am only speculating, but that’s my educated guess 🙂

Answer by Senor Snarky
They’re not legalizing something that was previously illegal, they were just clarifying the indecent exposure law to make sure that it could not be applied toward breast-feeding mothers.

You’re allowed to pass laws that clarify whether an existing practice is permitted or not, and you’re allowed to pass laws that legalize actions that were never previously illegal. How do you think they ever passed traffic ordinances? It was never illegal to drive a car, but when they were invented they had to make appropriate laws.

Answer by laughter_every_day
Some crazy prosecutors were talking about prosecutions for indecent exposure. So, the legislature plugged that possible loophole.

Answer by John S
You have it backward. It did not make it legal to breastfeed, it make it unlawful to discriminate against a breastfeeding mother. Breastfeeding is now a personal right. In other words, if a mother is now unlawfully excluded from some place because of breastfeeding her child, she could maintain a civil suit for violation of that personal right. (Civil Code 43.3.)

I am unaware of anybody in the history of California having been prosecuted for indecent exposure for breastfeeding, but many women have been excluded from public places for doing so. They are now protected.

Answer by Elwood P. Dowd
Some idiots do not know how to take “yes” for an answer. I am sorry you are one of those.

Answer by rickinnocal
The law did NOT make it legal to breastfeed a baby in public.

The law made it ILLEGAL for a public agency, or for a restaurant, and some other types of businesses, to prohibit breastfeeding on their property.

Prior to the law, if you started to breastfeed your baby in a restaurant, you were not breaking the law. However, it was perfectly legal for the manager to tell you to stop, or leave. Under the new law, he may not do so.

Richard

Answer by bcnu
There are thousands of laws that do this: providing or clarifying an exception to an existing law, thus removing doubt as to the desired behavior, or placing other limits on the enforcement of an existing law so that those who enforce the laws cannot accidentally overstep their authority.

Imagine there are those who believe the Second Amendment provides some federal rights against states that want to enforce gun-control laws (which it doesn’t). In theory, the “right to bear arms” is already on the books, at least under federal jurisdiction. However, some states have passed laws that prevent private property owners from keeping people out of their premises when they are bearing arms. It was already “legal” under the federal Constitution, but the local law extends that legality to a specific situation under state law. Not exactly what happened in the CA case you mention, but serves to demonstrate that “legal” is not “always legal.”