California Bill to Curb Child Sex Trafficking Declared Unfair to LGBTQ

A California bill that would increase penalties for child sex trafficking and the solicitation of sex from minors has received backlash from activists claiming it would unfairly affect the LGBTQ community.

Activists voiced concerns during a hearing of the Assembly Public Safety Committee last week that the bill, known as SB 1414, would “disproportionately impact marginalized communities,” such as those of black, brown, and LGBTQ individuals, according to CBS Austin.

“I’d like to acknowledge the survivors [of sex trafficking] here today and name that we all have the shared goal of protecting children from hard,” Isabella Borgeson, an outside policy fellow with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights said.

RELATED: Activists Protest Child Sex Trafficking in Fort Worth

“We are concerned that the harsher penalties contained in this bill will disproportionately impact marginalized communities, particularly black and brown individuals who already bear the brunt of systemic biases within our criminal justice system.”

The bill, which was authored by California State Sens. Shannon Grove (R),  Anna Caballero (D), and Susan Rubio (D), would make it a felony offense for adults who are “18 years of age or older” to solicit or pay for sex from a minor:

This bill would make this offense applicable only to a defendant who is 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense. The bill would, if the person solicited was under 16 years of age, or if the person solicited was under 18 years of age at the time of the offense and the person solicited was a victim of human trafficking, make the offense punishable as a wobbler by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 1 year and a fine not to exceed $10,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail for 16 months or 2 or 3 years. For a 2nd or subsequent offense under those conditions, the bill would require that the offense be punishable as a felony by imprisonment in the county jail for 16 months or 2 or 3 years.

Another speaker, Kellie Walters, a staff attorney with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC), stated that the bill “fails to address the root causes” and would “not effectively stop sexual violence.”

“We believe that SB 1414, takes an overly punitive approach that fails to address the root causes of these issues and will not effectively stop sexual violence,” Walters said. “We are particularly concerned that the harsher penalties proposed in this bill will disproportionately impact marginalized communities, especially members of the LGBTQ community, who already suffer from systematic biases within the criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to sexually based offenses.”

The Assembly Public Safety Committee passed the bill in an 8-0 vote, with amendments added. California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee will hear the amended bill in August.

Grove issued a statement addressing the amendments that had been added to the bill:

In its original form, SB 1414 attempted to make the act of soliciting or engaging in any act of commercial sex with a minor a felony. However, amendments forced on the bill earlier this year by Democrats in the Senate Public Safety Committee watered down the language, excluding 16- and 17-year-old children from the bill’s additional protections.

Today, additional amendments added by the Assembly Public Safety Committee require that 16- and 17-year-olds would have to be proven victims of human trafficking in order for the buyer to be held accountable and charged with a stronger penalty, something that district attorneys have said will make it even harder to prosecute.

In July 2023, the Public Safety Committee blocked SB 14, a bill introduced by Grove that would have made the trafficking of children in the state a “serious felony.”