Assembly committee waters down bill to combat sex trafficking in California

FBI agents with a sex trafficking victim File photo courtesy of the FBI Efforts to make it an automatic felony to buy a - or -year-old for sex in California were rejected by the Assembly Masses Safety Committee on Tuesday drawing surprise and anger from lawmakers seeking to combat sex trafficking I wholeheartedly disagree with that amendment stated Assemblymember Maggy Krell who introduced Assembly Bill to fight sex trafficking in the state The Democrat from Sacramento was put in a arduous position after the committee informed her that if she yearned any part of her rule to pass she had to drop the provision that would make buying a child under an automatic felony She reluctantly agreed saying afterward In order to get a hearing on the bill we were forced to remove the piece of the bill that ensures the crime of purchasing a minor for sex applies in all cases where the victim is under the age of Last year state Sen Shannon Grove also attempted to make it a felony to purchase a child years old and younger for sex And just as in Krell s event Democrats agreed to move her measure forward but with the automatic felony only applied to children and younger Grove a Republican from Bakersfield is a co-sponsor of this year s AB She commented Tuesday she is glad the bill is moving forward but the Assembly Masses Safety Committee should have kept the original language We must keep fighting to protect all children and hold exploiters accountable Gov Gavin Newsom also spoke out Tuesday saying he supports Krell s effort In an interview with KCRA he disclosed The law should treat all sex predators who solicit minors the same as a felony regardless of the intended victim s age Full stop Krell added that the current version of AB still has teeth because it criminalizes the creeps who are loitering to buy teenagers for sex and sets up a fund to help casualties Those will be powerful tools in the fight against sex trafficking it s a good start The regulation is supported by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and District Attorney Summer Stephan