(The Center Square) – A California bill to make trafficking minors a serious felony is nearing the governor’s desk after passing the State Assembly in a unanimous vote.
“We are one step closer to making the horrific crime of child sex trafficking a serious felony,” said bill author Senator Shannon Grove (R—Bakersfield). “SB 14 will increase jail time for repeat offenders who sell children for sex and commit the most heinous acts on our children.
The bill would make trafficking minors a “serious crime” eligible under the state’s “three strikes law,” and was amended in the Assembly to create an exception from the law for situations in which “the person who committed the offense was a victim of human trafficking … at the time of the offense.”
SB 14 was passed unanimously in the state Senate before failing its first vote in the Assembly Public Safety Committee after Assembly Majority Leader Issac Bryan (D—Los Angeles) blocked the bill over concerns that any increase in sentencing would “increase our investment in systems of harm and subjugation.”
National backlash earned the bill special focus and attention from Governor Gavin Newsom, who publicly took a stand supporting the bill’s passage. After SB 14 passed the State Assembly, Newsom took to X to say, “Good to see. Thank you, [Assembly Speaker] Robert Rivas for your leadership,” taken by some as a snub of state Republicans’ primary role in authoring the bill and producing the national backlash that ultimately pushed the bill through committee.
“Gavin Newsom, fixed this for you … Thank you Shannon Grove and California Republicans for your leadership,” wrote California Republican Party Chair Jessica Patterson on X.
Having passed the Assembly, the amended version of the bill now faces the Senate for a concurrence vote before heading to the Newsom’s desk to become law.
