Sacramento lawmaker signals changes to child sex trafficking bill

Lina PortmanMay 25, 2024

0 4 minutes read

Sacramento Rep. and head of the Assembly Public Safety Committee Kevin McCarty told KCRA 3 Friday he is concerned about a proposal that excludes 16- and 17-year-olds from being considered minors in a bill that targets customers of the child sex trafficking industry. . The bill, SB 1414, was authored by Republican Sen. Shannon Grove, originally to make soliciting or purchasing a minor for sexual purposes a felony in California. It is currently a misdemeanor. Earlier this year, the Senate Public Safety Committee added so-called “hostile amendments” to the bill, meaning the group changed the proposal against Grove's wishes to only strengthen penalties for those purchasing children 15 and under. The measure passed the state Senate unanimously Thursday evening. His next stop is the McCarty committee in the Assembly. “A juvenile is a juvenile,” McCarty told KCRA 3 Friday. “A 10 year old, 14 year old, or even 16 or 17 year old. It should be illegal to purchase a minor for sexual purposes and there should be consequences, I think it should be against the law and I think it should be a crime.” | MORE | Escaping The Blade: KCRA 3 investigates the details of a documentary about the sex trafficking problem in Sacramento. A small group of senators also amended the bill to allow those who solicit children 15 and younger for the first time to be considered “wobblers,” meaning prosecutors would have the ability to charge accusations. the offender of either a crime or a misdemeanor. The group also removed the required prison sentence from the proposal and instead included a maximum sentence of one year in county jail. McCarty said he looked forward to reviewing the bill, but couldn't say exactly what his committee would do with the proposal. He made the comments during an interview with KCRA 3 in one of the areas of Sacramento known for rampant child sex trafficking, near Stockton Boulevard. “We've passed some laws over the last couple of years and I don't think we've done the right thing,” he said. “I think the situation has gotten worse in neighborhoods like Stockton Boulevard, and I support more tools to combat this sex trafficking problem, it troubles me deeply.” A bipartisan group of state senators said Thursday night that the bill needs improvement, echoing Gov. Newsom's comments earlier this year when he said he would like to see the proposal on his desk this year. “We hope we can accomplish some of that in the Assembly,” Grove told KCRA 3 Friday. Democratic Senator Nancy Skinner, who initiated the changes to the bill, defended the amendments Thursday evening. “Laws are funny things,” she told senators. “This bill affects a verbal exchange. That's what solicitation is and so the amendments that were made, we're trying to make them appropriate.” Democratic state Sen. Susan Eggman suggested the issue could be a liability for the Democratic Party. “These children should not have to live lives determined by what happens to them at a very young age,” Eggman said on the Senate floor. “And have the California Democratic Party say it's okay. It's not okay. I'm not doing it anymore.” The bill is not yet scheduled for a hearing. The next legislative deadline is July 3, the last day for political committees — like McCarty's — to meet and report bills.

SACRAMENTO, California —

The bill, SB 1414, was authored by Republican Sen. Shannon Grove, originally to make soliciting or purchasing a minor for sexual purposes a felony in California. It is currently a misdemeanor.

Earlier this year, the Senate Public Safety Committee added so-called “hostile amendments” to the bill, meaning the group changed the proposal against Grove's wishes to only strengthen penalties for those purchasing children 15 and under.

The measure passed the state Senate unanimously Thursday evening. His next stop is the McCarty committee in the Assembly.

“A juvenile is a juvenile,” McCarty told KCRA 3 Friday. “A 10 year old, 14 year old, or even 16 or 17 year old. It should be illegal to purchase a minor for sexual purposes and there should be consequences, I think it should be against the law and I think it should be a crime.”

| MORE | Escaping The Blade: KCRA 3 investigates documentary that details sex trafficking problem in Sacramento

The small group of senators also amended the bill to allow those who solicit children 15 and younger for the first time to be considered “wobblers,” meaning prosecutors would have the ability to charge the offender with either a felony or a misdemeanor. The group also removed the required prison sentence from the proposal and instead included a maximum sentence of one year in county jail.

McCarty said he looked forward to reviewing the bill, but couldn't say exactly what his committee would do with the proposal. He made the comments during an interview with KCRA 3 in one of the areas of Sacramento known for rampant child sex trafficking, near Stockton Boulevard.

“We've passed some laws over the last couple of years and I don't think we've done the right thing,” he said. “I think the situation has gotten worse in neighborhoods like Stockton Boulevard, and I support more tools to combat this sex trafficking problem, it troubles me deeply.”

A bipartisan group of state senators said Thursday night that the bill needs improvement, echoing Gov. Newsom's comments earlier this year when he said he would like to see the proposal on his desk this year.

“We hope we can accomplish some of that in the Assembly,” Grove told KCRA 3 Friday.

Democratic Senator Nancy Skinner, who initiated the changes to the bill, defended the amendments Thursday evening.

“Laws are funny things,” she told senators. “This bill affects a verbal exchange. That's what solicitation is and so the amendments that were made, we're trying to make them appropriate.”

Democratic state Sen. Susan Eggman suggested the issue could be a liability for the Democratic Party.

“These children should not have to live lives determined by what happens to them at a very young age,” Eggman said on the Senate floor. “And have the California Democratic Party say it's okay. It's not okay. I'm not doing it anymore.”

The bill is not yet scheduled for a hearing. The next legislative deadline is July 3, the last day for political committees — like McCarty's — to meet and report bills.