California Bill Would Close Loopholes for Buying Sex From 16-Year-Olds

(The Center Square)—A bipartisan coalition of California lawmakers has introduced a bill to strengthen penalties, including potential felonies, for purchasing sex from 16- and 17-year-old children. The legislation also would make loitering to purchase prostitution a misdemeanor with a $1,000 fine.

Introduced by Assemblywoman Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, and state Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, Assembly Bill 379 would close loopholes left open by forced amendments to Grove’s earlier legislation on the purchase of sex from children.

“I made a promise that I would never stop fighting for all children in the state of California, and I intend to do just that,” said Grove in a statement. “I am thrilled to partner with Assemblywoman Maggy Krell, a former federal prosecutor who handled major sex trafficking cases, to ensure children of all ages are equally protected under the law and to provide resources to support survivors who have endured this horrific crime.”

Last year, Democrats forced amendments to Grove’s Senate Bill 1414, which originally would have made attempted or successful solicitation of sex with a minor for money a felony with a prison sentence ranging from two to four years, a fine not exceeding $25,000 and registration as a sex offender.

The forced amendments made buying sex from children 15 or younger a “wobbler” felony or misdemeanor with prison time possible but not guaranteed, and purchasing sex from 16- and 17-year-old children a misdemeanor. The amendments also limited sex offender registration to perpetrators with a prior conviction for purchasing sex from a child 15 or younger and with over a 10-year age gap, meaning a 25-year-old could purchase sex from a 15-year-old without registering as a sex offender.

In 2023, Democrats initially quashed SB 14, which made trafficking children a “serious” felony eligible under the state’s three-strikes law, before national outrage brought the bill back to committee and led to the bill’s eventual passage.

Krell and Grove’s statement also noted that California’s new 2022 law making it no longer a misdemeanor to loiter to commit prostitution has made it “more difficult for law enforcement to intervene and investigate sex trafficking cases,” and that since then, “the sex trafficking industry has openly flourished.”

Decriminalization bill author state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, argued that making loitering to commit prostitution a crime contributes to “discrimination on the basis of gender, race, class and perceived sex worker status – in particular, targeting Black women and members of the transgender community.”

Elected officials in Los Angeles have also shared their concerns about the decriminalization’s negative impact on women, children and other vulnerable members of the community as public prostitution becomes normal across vast swathes of the city.

“This is another soft on crime bill out of Sacramento leading to more crime on the streets of Los Angeles, and unfortunately in many cases it’s women and vulnerable people who are the victims of this,” said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park to The Center Square. “It’s unfortunate that lawmakers don’t anticipate the consequences of many of the laws they pass.”