OK, I'm inclined to think it's just stupid, not evil
It seems to me the only change to make this a reasonable (not necessarily good, but reasonable) law is insert "if possible", at the end of the requirement for companies to turn over data. Since it does contain the provision that no particular design can be required or prohibited , in practice all it really means is "If you leave the door open, let us use it". As currently written, all a company would have to do to "comply" with this law, while still offering strong end-to-end encryption is say "Alright, 'appropriate technical assistance' coming right up. We're going to build the world's biggest super computer farm to crack this key for you... but you're paying, right?"
Biting the hand that feeds IT
