California Democrats risk backlash, put hold on tough trafficking minors bill

(The Center Square) - California Democrats placed a bill into the suspense file that would have strengthened sentencing for trafficking minors by making the crime a “serious felony,” which would have qualified the crime for the state’s “three strikes” law. Though passed with unanimous support in the California Senate, the bill faces serious opposition from Democratic members of the California Assembly.

The bill, SB 14, first failed in the Assembly due to complete abstention from Democrats in the California Assembly Public Safety Committee, but passed in a second vote after days of public outrage drove even California Governor Gavin Newsom to intervene and express his support for the bill.

Today, bill author Senator Shannon Grove (R–Bakersfield) announced her bill, which had advanced to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, was placed in suspense file, a procedure the committee leaders can use to easily quash a bill if it has a fiscal impact of more than $150,000 but does not necessarily mean the bill is dead. As part of the suspense file, the bill could be suspended as a more detailed fiscal impact report is generated and considered.

“As the Appropriations Committee is evaluating the cost of incarcerating traffickers, I hope they will also take into account the basic services associated with the life-long rehabilitation of victims and survivors of this brutal crime. There is no price tag that can be placed on a victim of human trafficking, especially a child. Selling a child to be raped over and over again is a crime so grotesque, immoral and barbaric it should be prevented and stopped at any cost.”

SB 14 enjoys wide support from law enforcement, human rights organizations, faith groups, municipalities, and even corporations such as UPS. Opposition has been limited to some of the Assembly’s more progressive Democrats including Assembly Majority Leader Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles).

While explaining his abstention from the California Assembly Public Safety Committee’s second vote last month after voting no the day before, Bryan explained he believes incarceration does little to deter crime.

“Longer sentences…increase our investment in systems of harm and subjugation at the expense of the investments that the communities need to not have this problem to begin with,” Bryan said.