Child Trafficking Bill Faces New Hurdles After Revival in CA Committee

A few Democrats in the California State Assembly had a change of heart Thursday regarding SB 14, a bill enhancing penalties for people convicted of child human trafficking, two days after refusing to vote to pass it out of committee.

Shannon Grove, the bill’s sponsor (R, Bakersfield), said on Wednesday evening that Assembly Republicans will try to pass this bill Thursday morning.

Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) Assembly Majority Leader (and member of the Public Safety Committee), made a move before Republicans did this. Isaac Bryan, Assembly Majority Leader (and member of the Public Safety Committee) (D-Los Angeles), made a motion before Republicans could do this.

Flora spoke up before the vote. Flora spoke up. Some members still have Pride flags on their desks.

She is the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

This was the shortest meeting I’ve ever attended. Asm. Lackey, R-Palmdale, announced he wanted to make a few remarks.

Bonta and Bryan stormed the room after the Chair screamed Aye! The rest of the committee members voted to support the bill.

The bill has been sent to the Asm. After the August legislative break, the bill will come before the Appropriations Committee.

A couple of thoughts on this:

-It was unnecessary to return to the committee to vote for a simple procedure. Several Republican Caucus members tried to vote, but the Speaker voted against it.

-If the legislators do not finish their work before recess, the media will be able to make a lot of noise. The speaker made matters worse for his caucus.

-Bryan & Bonta showed themselves to be extremely out of touch with Californians & their constituents. I hope that voters take notice.

-How did the Senate deal with the persistent and significant opposition to the bill?

-As far as I can tell, Senate Democrats sent this to the Assembly to die. They knew what Jones-Sawyer would do to the bill (he’s done this on lots of other bills with felony enhancements) which meant they could wipe their hands off the bill while claiming at the same time that they were in full support of the bill (“See, I not only voted for the bill, I am a co-author!”). This is a game they play all the time, the most notorious one being SB 562 (Lara & Atkins) on universal health care.

-Now Senate Democrats are claiming that Qanon is the problem and that human slavery does not exist. They have to accept responsibility for a law that they never expected would pass.

-You thought Hollywood put on a good show. They play second fiddle to the #caleg.

This is a video showing Bryan Bonta walking away, most likely because they did not want to deal with normal people.

Lara Korte (in a fair and unbiased way) told us that Assembly Democrats did not advocate for pedophiles when they voted against the bill. Smart Justice CA sent her talking points. She tweeted the picture. It is not true. Prosecutors and investigators are constantly working to ensure that victims do not become re-victimized by being charged with crimes they were forced into committing. Minors never receive long sentences or are given a strike.

Smart Justice CA and Korte point out, without any apparent intention, that SB 14 makes a good argument. The claim is that people who are convicted of human trafficking can be sentenced to life imprisonment. SB 14 will end this practice. SB 14 will end this practice.

We began to hear the same message after the hearing. Reggie Jones-Sawyer, the chair of the Public Safety Committee was also part of this group.

Did the person read the tweet? When can a child victim of trafficking be charged as a criminal?

Assembly Majority Leader, who is extremist enough to be on the same side as Ilhan Omar.

By the end, LA Times scribes were writing “think pieces”.

As Republican Assemblyman Joe Patterson noted:

In every committee that I have been in, Democrats have presented legislation that needs “work”. This is a lot of bad legislation, but I don’t believe that this was the primary reason for #SB14 opponents.

Liz Ortega is an Assemblymember in California who regrets voting against the bill that targets “really evil people” who traffic children. She promised to “get this important law into law”.

Lance Christensen noted that Jones-Sawyer and his committee were known for blocking bills that enhanced crimes. It was likely all a set-up. Now that the Assembly will be in recess, militant anti-incarceration groups are expected to continue their arguments. This gives passionate and bipartisan supporters of the Bill the time they need to perfect their strategy.

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