California Kills Bill To Make Trafficking Children A Serious Felony, Democrats Reject Increasing Penalties For Other Crimes Against Children

The California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee killed a new bill that would have increased the penalties associated with the human trafficking of a minor by making it a serious felony. The move stoked anger and disgust from observers at the legislature and Republican lawmakers.

The defeated bill, SB-14, would, according to the text, "include human trafficking of a minor within the definition of a serious felony for all purposes, including for purposes of the Three Strikes Law. By expanding the scope of an enhancement, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program." This would serve to intensify the sentencing of repeat offenders, making someone convicted twice subject to a potential life sentence in prison.

The bill justified the need for this in six coherent points:

(a) California consistently ranks number one in the nation in the number of human trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
(b) The Attorney General notes that California is one of the largest sites for human trafficking in the United States and recognizes the serious nature of this crime.
(c) Human trafficking is among the world’s fastest growing criminal enterprises and is estimated to be a $150,000,000,000 a year global industry.
(d) Native American women and girls are victims of human trafficking at a much higher rate compared to the overall population.
(e) California has the sixth highest death rate of indigenous women in urban cities.
(f) California was chosen to be the first pilot location for the United States Department of Justice Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative.

The bill sailed through the State Senate, passing unanimously. However, in the powerful committee, not a single Democrat voted in favor of it. The two 'yes' votes were cast by Republican Assemblymen Juan Alanis and Tom Lackey, according to The Daily Wire. 

The outlet reported that Assembly Public Safety Committee Chairman, Los Angeles Democrat Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, led the opposition to the bill. The bill's co-author, Republican Sen. Shannon Grove, told Daily Wire she had spoken with committee Democrats before the hearing. "They all thought it was a good bill and said they would consider it, but there is this issue of rolling the chair, so I don’t think anyone was going to stand up against the chair," she explained.

Citizens observing the proceedings from the gallery expressed outrage and disgust when the bill failed the committee vote.

“You’re horrible!” someone shouted, “You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

Victims who were present for what could've been landmark legislation reportedly wept.

Grove responded to the vote,

“I am profoundly disappointed that committee Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to support the bill, with their stubborn and misguided objection to any penalty increase regardless of how heinous the crime."

“You can pass a note to a bank and rob a bank, you can commit arson, and that’s considered a serious felony. But to traffic a minor child in the state of California is not. That’s wrong," he said.

Local outlet KCRA 3 reported that the Democrat-dominated committee has previously tossed out other proposed laws that "would increase penalties for domestic violence offenders, rapists of developmentally disabled children and other sexually violent crimes."

Grove told the outlet that Chairman Jones-Sawyer refused to meet with her despite three attempted phone calls from her and another half dozen or so from her staff. However, the chair's staff claimed in a statement that the two spoke though "The conversation was brief, resulting in no changes to either office’s positions on the bill.”

In a statement to Twitter, Grove wrote,

"After passing the Senate with a unanimous, bipartisan vote, I had hoped Democrats on the Assembly Public Safety Committee, led by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, would agree to make sex trafficking of a minor a serious felony. I am profoundly disappointed that committee Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to support the bill, with their stubborn and misguided objection to any penalty increase regardless of how heinous the crime. Human trafficking of children is a growing tragedy that disproportionately targets minority girls, and California is a hotbed because of our lenient penalties. The sad reality is that trafficked children on Figueroa Street and across California will continue to be raped and victimized until Assembly Democrats take action. Since the bill was granted reconsideration, I will continue to work with the committee and fight for Californians who are outraged by their decision."