Community makes adultery legal

ROLLING HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Adultery will soon be legal in this small community southwest of Los Angeles.

On Monday, the City Council voted to repeal a 46-year-old ordinance that prohibited immoral conduct, which included extramarital sex. The archaic law, which could result in a $250 fine or three months in jail, was passed after the city was incorporated in 1957.

Council members weren't endorsing adultery but they took some pleasure in commenting about the ordinance. "So this is a pro-adultery thing?" Councilman James Black joked before the meeting. "Good for us!"

City officials heard about the ordinance after a resident scouring the municipal code mentioned it at a recent forum for City Council candidates. They were unsure if anyone had been cited for breaking the law and couldn't figure out why it was put there in the first place.

"Why this particular law has been dormant and allowed to remain on the books all these years is anyone's guess," City Attorney Mike Jenkins said. "I doubt it had anything to do with the rate of adultery in Rolling Hills."

The ordinance could be formally repealed at the end of May, 30 days after the repeal is given a second reading on April 28.

Rolling Hills, a community of 1,900, is 25 miles southwest of Los Angeles.