California Assembly rejects bill to classify trafficking of minors as a major felony.

California Assembly Committee Blocks Bill to Combat Human Trafficking

In a disappointing turn of events, the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee has blocked a crucial bill aimed at addressing the alarming issue of human trafficking, particularly involving minors.

The bill, known as HB 14, highlighted the distressing fact that California consistently ranks as the state with the highest number of reported human trafficking cases in the nation. It also emphasized the urgent need to tackle this rapidly growing criminal enterprise, estimated to be a staggering 0 billion global industry annually.

HB 14 sought to make human trafficking of a minor a serious felony under California’s Three Strikes Law, potentially resulting in life imprisonment for repeat offenders. Surprisingly, despite unanimous approval in the State Senate, not a single Democrat on the committee voted in favor of the bill. The only support came from two Republican Assemblymen, Juan Alanis and Tom Lackey.

Reggie Jones-Sawyer, the Chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee and a Democrat from Los Angeles, opposed the bill. Republican state Senator Shannon Grove, who co-authored the bill, expressed her disappointment, revealing that she had discussed the bill with Democrats on the committee prior to the hearing. However, it seemed that political dynamics played a role in their decision not to challenge the committee chair.

The audience erupted in anger, shouting, “You’re horrible!” and “You should be ashamed of yourselves!” as victims of human trafficking broke down in tears during the meeting.

Grove expressed her profound disappointment, criticizing the committee Democrats for their refusal to support the bill. She highlighted the inconsistency in the legal system, where crimes such as bank robbery and arson are considered serious felonies, while trafficking a minor in California is not.

Despite multiple attempts to reach out, Grove and her staff were unable to secure a meeting with Jones-Sawyer, who refused to engage in discussions regarding the bill.

In response to Grove’s claims, Jones-Sawyer’s office stated that there was only a brief conversation between their staff regarding amendments, resulting in no changes to their positions on the bill.

It is worth noting that the committee has also rejected other measures aimed at increasing penalties for domestic violence offenders, rapists of developmentally disabled children, and other sexually violent crimes, as reported by KCRA.