ASSEMBLY OK'S LIMITS ON TEEN INFORMANTS

The measure, now headed to the Senate, follows the slaying of a Yorba Linda boy.

Sacramento-A bill that would limit the use of teen-agers as police
informants was approved Tuesday by the state Assembly, and the measure's
author predicted it would meet with the same success in the Senate.

The measure by Assemblyman Scott Baugh was prompted by the death of Chad
MacDonald, 17, of Yorba Linda, who was killed in March after he agreed to
act as a Brea Police Department informant to help arrest drug dealers.

"I think it will fly out of the Senate with the same speed it flew out of
the Assembly," said Baugh, R-Huntington Beach. "You just can't disagree
with the policy here. We should not be putting kids in harm's way to fight
our failed war on drugs."

The bill would eliminate the use of teens as police informants if they are
under the age of 15. Teens ages 15 to 17 could be used as informants only
with the consent of their parents and a judge.

The measure, Assembly Bill 2816, was approved without debate on a 62-1
vote. Its first stop in the Senate will likely be the Public Safety
Committee.

The bill will be helped in the Senate by the fact that Senate leader John
Burton, D-San Francisco, supports limiting the use of teen informants,
although he has not taken a position on the Baugh bill, Burton's spokesman
Sandy Harrison said.

"He would be in favor of restricting that activity," Harrison said.

Gov. Pete Wilson has not said whether he will sign the bill. But Baugh said
he has gotten no resistance from the Wilson administration.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)