Editor’s note: Sacramento Snapshot is a weekly series during the legislative session detailing what Orange County’s representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on — from committee work to bill passages and more.
The California Legislature couldn’t start its month-long summer break without a little drama.
Or rather, a lot.
At issue was a bill meant to make child trafficking a serious felony, with increased sentences for repeat offenders, that had previously gotten unanimous, bipartisan support in the Senate. It would make sex trafficking of minors a crime included under California’s “Three Strikes” sentencing law, which means if a person is convicted of a third serious or violent offense, they will face between 25 years to life in prison.
The idea, supporters say, is to deter potential traffickers with these harsher penalties.
“This is an important issue, and I’m glad to see it moving forward,” said Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, who is a co-sponsor of the bill. “There’s an ongoing debate on striking the right balance between criminal justice reform and sentencing, but this is a different issue. We need to ensure traffickers are prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and I’m gratified to see that cooler heads prevailed on the Assembly side.”
From Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, the bill has broad support with Sens. Newman; Janet Nguyen, R-Huntington Beach; and Kelly Seyarto, R-Murrieta signed on as co-sponsors. The city of San Juan Capistrano gave its support for the bill as have all of Orange County’s Republican assemblymembers.
Where it didn’t have support, at least initially: the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
On Tuesday, only Republicans voted it out of committee. The six Democrats, including chair Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, abstained from voting, essentially killing the bill before Friday’s deadline for it to make it out of policy committees.
It’s no secret that public safety…
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