(The Center Square) – The California State Legislature has changed course and will now hear a bipartisan bill that would make it a felony to buy sex from all children after broad outrage and the bill’s apparent quashing. However, legislators say they want to remove the provision making the crime a felony, which would undermine the bill authors’ stated intent, and hold information sessions on possible changes in the fall.
“Apparently we now need an ‘informational hearing’ to decide whether having sex with children should be a felony,” said the Assembly Republican Caucus in a statement. “Who exactly are Assembly Democrats representing?”
Assembly Bill 379, a bipartisan bill from Assemblywoman Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, and State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, would close the loopholes left open by the forced amendments to Grove’s Senate Bill 1414, the bill that passed last year.
SB 1414 would have made it a felony to purchase sex from all children, but Democrats forced amendments keeping the crime a misdemeanor if the minors were 16 or 17; originally, the bill would have made it a felony for all minors.
“I made a promise that I would never stop fighting for all children in the state of California, and I intend to do just that,” said Grove in a statement. “I am thrilled to partner with Assemblywoman Maggy Krell, a former federal prosecutor who handled major sex trafficking cases, to ensure children of all ages are equally protected under the law and to provide resources to support survivors who have endured this horrific crime.”
AB 379, which would close SB 1414’s loophole for older children, was initially un-scheduled for a hearing in committee, KCRA reported. However, after public backlash, the bill has been put back on the agenda, though legislators told KCRA the bill “will be changed by committee tomorrow [Tuesday] to exclude felony charges for those who buy 16 and 17 year olds for sex.”
KCRA says Assembly Public Safety Chairman Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, instead “wants to host info hearings on the issue in the fall.”
If not heard on Tuesday, the bill would fail by default.
