STATE — An all-out war is taking place in the State Legislature over whether soliciting sex from 16- and 17-year-old kids and loitering to purchase sex should be classified as a felonies.
The battle began last year when Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) authored Senate Bill 1414, reclassifying the solicitation of sex of all minors for sex as a felony. However, the bill was amended by the Democrats to exclude 16- and 17-year-olds.
This year, Assemblywoman Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento) authored Assembly Bill 379 to increase penalties for soliciting, or buying, 16- and 17-year-olds as a felony with some bipartisan support in both chambers. On Wednesday, Democrats in the Public Safety Committee removed the automatic felony charge, according to media reports.
On Thursday, the Assembly floor removed Krell and all 20 co-authors from the bill, while 55 Democrats voted for the amended bill, but three Democrats and all Republicans voted against in a 55-21 vote. Thursday was also Denim Day at the legislature, where lawmakers wore denim in support of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
State law charges traffickers, or sellers, with an automatic felony and if convicted three times, or has two other serious felony convictions, would serve life in prison.
“We need to say if you’re under 18, a minor, that the person who is buying that person should be charged with a felony,” Krell, a former prosecutor, told the Assembly. “It’s plain and simple.”
As for the amended penalties, those would between two days and one year in county jail. The changes initially required 16- and 17-year-olds to prove they are victims of sex trafficking before the felony kicks in, according to KCRA.
