After a long struggle, and sticky start, the senate bill calling for harsher penalties for child sex traffickers has cleared its latest hurdle, and is well on its way to becoming one of California’s newest laws.
On Friday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to pass SB 14 after making amendments to the bill’s language.
In a press conference held Friday afternoon, Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) thanked the millions of Californians who contacted her in regards to the bill to make sure that sex traffickers were “rightfully prosecuted as perpetrators.”
“I want to thank the Assembly Appropriations Committee members who stood today in defense of the victims of child sex trafficking and voted to let SB 14 out of committee. The amendment affirms what is already in statute to ensure victims of human trafficking are protected,” Grove said following the committee meeting.
SB 14 calls for sex trafficking crimes against children to be classified as serious offenses in the State of California and that each offense include a strike under the Three Strikes law. Grove said the focus of the bill is to go after repeat offenders.
According to Grove, the bill has strong bipartisan support with 64 co-authors from both parties and both houses.
Said Grove, “Protecting victims of child sex trafficking should not be a partisan issue. Today is a victory for every survivor. I am confident most members of the Assembly want to vote for this bill, and thanks to today’s vote they will have a chance. However, the fight to make the human trafficking of a child a serious felony is not yet finished, and I urge every Californian to stay engaged until the bill is signed into law.”
Concerning questions and concerns raised regarding the amendments made to the wording of the bill by the Appropriations Committee, Grove said the committee did so to affirm that the victims who are in trafficking situations not be “wrapped up” in the roll and charged as perpetrators.
Said Grove, “That was never the intent of the bill… to have a victim be charged as a criminal.
