Actresses Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner back California law to shield their kids from paparazzi

Actresses Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner urged California lawmakers to support legislation that they say would help them better protect their children from the paparazzi that follow them daily.

The stars testified on Tuesday before the state's assembly's Judiciary Committee regarding a bill which would impose tougher penalties on photographers who harass celebrities and their children.

It was Berry's second state Capitol appearance on the measure. The Academy Award-winning actress, who is pregnant, told lawmakers the constant presence of photographers yelling and snapping pictures has made her daughter scared to go to school. "As mothers, as parents, we don't have the wherewithal or the law in place right now to protect them from this," Berry said. "What this bill would do is give us our rights back so that we can protect our children."

The bill from Democrat Senator Kevin de Leon would change the definition of harassment to include photographing or recording a child without the permission of a legal guardian by following the child or guardian's activities or by lying in wait. It also increases the penalties for people convicted of such behaviour.

The bill passed the panel and now heads to the Appropriations Committee.

Garner, who starred in the ABC series Alias and is married to actor Ben Affleck, appeared to nearly cry describing how paparazzi aggressively follow her and the couple's three young children as she takes them to school and to the paediatrician.