State legislation seeking to toughen sanctions for engaging in prostitution with a minor has been watered down, much to the disappointment of the bill’s original author.
Specifically at issue is Senate Bill 1414, authored by Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove of Bakersfield, who proposed making it a felony to solicit or engage in commercial sex with a minor, carrying a maximum penalty of up to four years in prison and a $25,000 fine. That’s a big difference from current law that defines engaging in prostitution with a minor as a misdemeanor, drawing a minimum mandatory sentence of two days in jail.
Grove’s bill also would require anyone convicted of soliciting a minor to annually register as a sex offender for 10 years. The bill was a bipartisan measure, also sponsored by Democratic Senators Anna Caballero of Merced and Susan Rubio of Baldwin Park. Joining the effort as a co-sponsor is the Senate Minority leader Brian Jones of San Diego.
Grove and her supporters, including a long list of advocacy groups, say they are now unhappy with the revised language of SB 1414, saying the bill was watered down during the hearing before the senate’s Public Safety Committee. Her office complained that the committee “forced hostile amendments and voted the bill out of committee without Sen. Grove’s consent.” Grove was reportedly visibly upset and angry when she became aware of the changes.
Now, instead of making the prostitution of minors a felony, it’s a “wobbler” — a term used when a trial court can decide whether the crime should be a misdemeanor or a felony, which would keep alive the potential of a mandatory minimum two-day sentence.
The other change to the bill would only allow a felony charge for prostitution with minors younger than 16. That means 17- and 18-year-olds would not be considered minors under the changes included in the revised version of the bill.
That revision in the Senate Public Safety Committee was part of the bill’s redo by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, and others on the committee. They believe the bill as written was overly broad and could have unintended consequences. They inserted the provisions that has upset bill supporters.
Leslie Houston with the California Public Defender’s Association said the bill is flawed and that prosecutors do have the ability to use existing laws to “send those people to prison for decades.”
Ironically, this anti-trafficking legislation is a follow-up to Grove’s bill last year that increased penalties for pimps and traffickers.
That bill encountered tough sledding before the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, which tried to kill the bill before political and public protests forced a quick turnabout.
Many of the same groups that protested the bill’s near death are hoping for a similar turnaround with SB 1414 and the changes that were inserted in the bill. There is a widespread call for action among law-enforcement and anti-human trafficking advocates.
The bill is scheduled to be heard on the Senate floor later this week, but there are hundreds of bills making their way through the floor. Grove’s office described it as “very fluid situation.”