California Governor Jerry Brown has signed AB1671 into law, a bill that imposes harsher penalties on anyone making secret recordings like those released by pro-life activist David Daleiden on behalf of the Center for Medical Progress.

The bill – backed by Planned Parenthood – is intended to strengthen and narrow already-existing laws of consent when it comes to secretly filming people who have not offered consent.

California is a blue-through-and-through state. The spirit of the bill faced little opposition as it made its way through the state legislature, but some compromises were made at the last minute as some lawmakers felt the language was too broad and could ensnare whistleblowers.

Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress released a statement scolding the California legislature for playing favorites and skirting the rights of the taxpayers.

“The Center for Medical Progress never recorded “confidential” communications, so California’s existing recording law and the new distribution provision are simply inapplicable to our work. However, it is clear that Planned Parenthood does not want to be held accountable to the public whose taxpayer money it gladly takes by the hundreds of millions, and will even attack freedom of speech and the freedom of the press in order to maintain its own arbitrary levels of secrecy.”

Redstate also spoke exclusively with state Senator John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa), who vehemently opposed the bill and released a statement immediately upon its signature. Moorlach says that while the language of the bill was changed last minute to protect whistleblowers, citizens like Daleiden are whistleblowers and should be treated as such.

Its a wet blanket [on freedom]. It is a wrong solution to a problem. The problem is someone is selling baby parts and that is a direct conflict of interest for Planned Parenthood…The problem wasn’t the whistleblower. As I said in my statement to the press, when 60 minutes takes a hidden camera to uncover a disturbing story we call that heroic journalism. When a private citizen does it, we demand legislation to stop it.