Child Prostitution Bill Amended Again by California Lawmakers

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After 16- and 17-year-old victims had been excluded, an Assembly committee attempted to address the pushback.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.โ€”A bill that was originally introduced to make soliciting a child for sex a felony underwent additional changes in the Assemblyโ€™s Public Safety Committee July 2.

At issue is Senate Bill 1414, authored by Republican Sen. Shannon Grove, which โ€œaims to increase penalties for those who purchase children for sex,โ€ her office said in a press release.

It was first amended in the Senate to exclude 16- and 17-year-old victims, make the crime a โ€œwobblerโ€โ€”where prosecutors can charge offenders with a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the circumstancesโ€”and require a 10-year age gap between the offender and the victim for those convicted to register as a sex offender.

Ms. Grove considered the changes to be โ€œhostileโ€ and made without her approval, noting that some members of both parties disagreed with those amendments.

In response to the changes, Democratic Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman said, โ€œIโ€™m done with us protecting people who would buy and abuse our children,โ€ and she urged her colleagues to rethink their positions.

At Ms. Groveโ€™s request, Assemblyman Juan Alanisโ€”vice-chair of the public safety committeeโ€”made a motion at the July 2 hearing to remove the prior amendments, but the attempt failed.

The chair of the committee, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, then moved to make soliciting a minor over 15 a felony if the individual is a victim of human trafficking, and the motion was approved by the committee.

In a joint press release with Sen. Aisha Wahab, chair of the Senateโ€™s Public Safety Committee, published hours before the hearing, they suggested their efforts will help protect minors and address concerns with the prior amendments.

โ€œOur joint proposal will ensure justice for the children and teenagers targeted by these criminals, and we will succeed where years of previous attempts at similar legislation failed,โ€ the lawmakers said. โ€œOur goal is to always prioritize victims and punish predators, especially those who commit sexual crimes against children.โ€

The bill passed after being amended, but the author expressed a need to do more to protect children.

Byย Travis Gillmore

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