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The Assembly’s Public Safety Committee blocked the trafficking bill even as the state faces a rise in victims and a new film ‘Sound of Freedom’ spotlights the problem.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Tuesday, California Assembly member Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, voted with other Democrats on the powerful Public Safety Committee to block a bill that would increase penalties for felony child sex-trafficking for repeat offenders.
Two days later, after a furor on Twitter and a public intervention by California Governor Gavin Newsom, the Public Safety Committee was forced to take up the trafficking bill for a second time, and this time its members, Ortega included, approved it.
“I made a bad decision,” Ortega tweeted July 13, after the bill moved on to the Appropriations Committee. “Voting against legislation targeting really bad people who traffic children was wrong. I regret doing that and I am going to help get this important legislation passed into law.”
The proposed legislation, California Senate Bill 14, would add the trafficking of a minor to the state’s controversial “Three Strikes” law, which stiffens penalties for repeat offenses of serious felonies. In specific cases, a third strike can result in a prison sentence of 25 years to life.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Tuesday, California Assembly member Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, voted with other Democrats on the powerful Public Safety Committee to block a bill that would increase penalties for felony child sex-trafficking for repeat offenders.
Two days later, after a furor on Twitter and a public intervention by California Governor Gavin Newsom, the Public Safety Committee was forced to take up the trafficking bill for a second time, and this time its members, Ortega included, approved it.
“I made a bad decision,” Ortega tweeted July 13, after the bill moved on to the Appropriations Committee. “Voting against legislation targeting really bad people who traffic children was wrong. I regret doing that and I am going to help get this important legislation passed into law.”
The proposed legislation, California Senate Bill 14, would add the trafficking of a minor to the state’s controversial “Three Strikes” law, which stiffens penalties for repeat offenses of serious felonies. In specific cases, a third strike can result in a prison sentence of 25 years to life.
Continued below.
Amid Public Uproar, California Lawmaker Says Blocking Child Trafficking Law Was ‘Bad Decision’
The Assembly’s Public Safety Committee blocked the trafficking bill even as the state faces a rise in victims and a new film ‘Sound of Freedom’ spotlights the problem.
