An Assembly bill that would have allowed local police agencies to withhold information about the victims of crimes was defeated in committee Thursday.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena, joined the four other Democrats on the Public Safety Committee in voting against the bill, which would have given agencies the authority to keep the addresses of crime victims from the public.

The bill, sponsored by Norma Torres, D-Ontario, was unnecessary and infringed on the public's right to information generated by police agencies, Portantino said.

"We want to do things in public," he said. "Crime victims have protections under the Public Records Act. I saw no reason to move the line toward darkness away from sunshine."

The California Public Records Act prevents the release of information about the name and address of victims only in sexual-assault cases.

Basic information about a crime, including names of arrestees and victims, the time of the crime and its circumstances must be released in most circumstances.

Torres said her bill was intended to protect victims' rights and not to hide information from the public.

"Just because they were a victim of a crime shouldn't give anybody a reason why their personal info should be made public," Torres said. "The public doesn't need to know any of that."

Torres said her bill was not intended to limit the media's access to public information and was instead designed to prevent people from preying on crime victims.

"My greatest concern is that this information is being obtained by unscrupulous individuals to further victimize victims," Torres said.

The committee did grant her request to reconsider the bill and will take it up again in a few weeks, Torres said.