California Assemblyman Leland Yee scored an upset win today. AB 450, the bill he sponsored to keep violent games out of the hands of children, survived a make-or-break committee vote after looking all but dead just 24 hours ago. In a 6-4 vote the Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media approved the measure, sending it to the Assembly floor where the full body will consider its merits.
Oddly enough, Assemblyman Jerome Horton, whose abstention on Tuesday nearly killed the bill, was absent today for the vote. Assemblyman Dave Jones, (at left) a Sacramento Democrat, filled in for Horton, and cast the required sixth "yes" vote to approve the bill out of committee.
GamePolitics is still trying to ascertain why Assemblyman Horton was absent from today's vote. An exclusive report yesterday here on GamePolitics detailed how Assemblyman Horton received $2,000 in 2004 campaign donations from Microsoft, a video game hardware and software company that had lobbied in California, presumably in opposition to AB 450. When GamePolitics contacted Assemblyman Horton's office late yesterday afternoon, there was no indication that he would miss today's vote.