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California Democrats deserve to be embarrassed for bungling sex trafficking bill
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P. Coonan
Jul 19, 2023, 2:24:28 PM7/19/23
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Senate Bill 14 had all the ingredients for legislation that was destined
to sail through the California Legislature. It elevated the sex
trafficking of minors to a serious felony on multiple convictions. It had
a boatload of bipartisan support. It sailed out of the Senate on a 40-0
vote.
Then it reached the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
And on Tuesday, it died without a single Democrat voting for it.
On Thursday, it was a different story. A bipartisan outcry led by Gov.
Gavin Newsom caused the bill to come back before the committee whose
members promptly voted for it - save for Mia Bonta and Isaac Bryan, who
abstained.
The issue exploded far beyond the merits of the bill and exposed the
excesses and arrogance within the California Legislature’s dominant one-
party rule. Such power comes with a great responsibility to respect the
view of the majority of the Legislature and the public at large. The
Democrats on the Assembly Public Safety Committee ignored that
responsibility on Tuesday, to their great embarrassment on Thursday.
Efforts to toughen sentences legitimately face questions given
California’s prison overcrowding and budget constraints. But as Republican
Heath Flora of Ripon told the Assembly on Thursday morning, the choice on
SB 14 was straightforward: “Pick pedophiles or children.”
As author Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, told the committee on Tuesday,
“Human trafficking is exploding in cities across our country. The
horrendous practice could very well easily be defined as the crime of our
time. Sadly, California is a hub of human trafficking.”
Because of various credits for reduced sentences, a Californian convicted
of felony sex trafficking can only serve a handful of years. Grove spoke
of a member of her district who was convicted of sex trafficking involving
a 15-year-old girl and was released in less than four years.
The “serious felony” status is the foundation of the “Three Strikes” law
passed in 1994. Serious and violent felonies can result in sentences of 25
years to life on the third conviction. Its opponents, then and now,
question its value as a deterrent. Supporters say it is a matter of the
sentence fitting the crime.
“I hope,” said Grove, “that we can all agree today that repeatedly selling
minor children for sex, forcing them to be raped over and over and over
again every single day, should be considered a serious felony in the state
of California.”
The committee heard directly from a victim of the crime, Odessa Perkins. A
survivor, head of the non-profit emPOWERment that seeks to improve
conditions for fellow survivors.
“I am here to say, I was molested and raped repeatedly by Black and white
men and even some women,” Perkins said. “So it does not matter the race.
What matters is saving our children.”
As she testified, Perkins must have had a sense that her words were not
reaching the majority of the committee.
“I am here, and I look at your faces and wonder, do you care?”
The eight-member committee’s two Republicans, Juan Alanis of Modesto and
Tom Lackey of Palmdale, quickly voiced their support and moved the bill
for a full committee vote. That was to be the last support the bill would
receive.
Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, shared his reasoning against SB 14. “All
evidence has shown that longer sentences don’t actually stop things from
happening,” he said. “All they do is increase our investments in systems
of harm and subjugation at the expense of the investments that communities
need not have this be a problem, to begin with.”
Liz Ortega, D-Hayward, agreed. “Three strikes has shown it has failed many
in our community,” she said. “Sending someone to prison for the rest of
their lives is not going to fix the harm moving forward.”
Committee Democrats tend to vote as a pack, with Chairman Reginald Byron
Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, as pack leader. He said there were existing
sentence enhancements that prosecutors and judges apparently were not
using. “Adding enhancements, they still may not do it,” he said. “At the
end of the day, what we want is to protect these women.”
All Democrats on the committee declined to cast a vote. That would
normally seal a bill’s fate for the year. Instead, the pack had lit a
political fuse that would soon detonate.
On Wednesday in a brief exchange with reporters, Governor Gavin Newsom
said he had contacted Senator Grove in appreciation for her “efforts on
this and wanted to make sure she knew that today.” The issue is one “I
care deeply about. Have since my time as (San Francisco) mayor, as a
supervisor, working then with District Attorney Kamala Harris.”
Newsom signaled that the fight over SB 14 was not over. “We will be
following that up,” he said Wednesday. “We will have more to say on that
very shortly.”
Suddenly, minds began to change.
“On Tuesday, I made a bad decision,” Assemblywoman Ortega tweeted Thursday
morning. “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.”
On the Assembly Floor Thursday, Bryan moved to allow the Public Safety
Committee to rehear SB 14, which they passed. Jones-Sawyer forbid any
committee comments. “It is up for a vote only,” he said.
Bills tend to have their toughest vote in the policy committee in the
second house. The author typically does not have friends and connections
in the other chamber. And the policy committee has the greatest expertise
on the subject. Many bills rightly die there or get amended in significant
ways. That is the way the system is supposed to work.
The system can break down, however, under dominant one-party rule. A
committee majority can feel emboldened to make decisions that neither
reflect the majority of the committee’s own party nor the body at large.
When that happens, democracy fails.
That is precisely what happened Tuesday.
That is the only explanation for the Committee’s sudden and spectacular
reversal on Thursday.
In the end, do not blame this or any committee. Blame the legislative
leader who picks the committees and allows rogue ones to perpetuate. The
Assembly has a new leader now, Speaker Robert Rivas of Salinas.
All eyes should be on Rivas and his next moves. The underlying problem was
not resolved on Thursday.
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article277288433.html
to sail through the California Legislature. It elevated the sex
trafficking of minors to a serious felony on multiple convictions. It had
a boatload of bipartisan support. It sailed out of the Senate on a 40-0
vote.
Then it reached the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
And on Tuesday, it died without a single Democrat voting for it.
On Thursday, it was a different story. A bipartisan outcry led by Gov.
Gavin Newsom caused the bill to come back before the committee whose
members promptly voted for it - save for Mia Bonta and Isaac Bryan, who
abstained.
The issue exploded far beyond the merits of the bill and exposed the
excesses and arrogance within the California Legislature’s dominant one-
party rule. Such power comes with a great responsibility to respect the
view of the majority of the Legislature and the public at large. The
Democrats on the Assembly Public Safety Committee ignored that
responsibility on Tuesday, to their great embarrassment on Thursday.
Efforts to toughen sentences legitimately face questions given
California’s prison overcrowding and budget constraints. But as Republican
Heath Flora of Ripon told the Assembly on Thursday morning, the choice on
SB 14 was straightforward: “Pick pedophiles or children.”
As author Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, told the committee on Tuesday,
“Human trafficking is exploding in cities across our country. The
horrendous practice could very well easily be defined as the crime of our
time. Sadly, California is a hub of human trafficking.”
Because of various credits for reduced sentences, a Californian convicted
of felony sex trafficking can only serve a handful of years. Grove spoke
of a member of her district who was convicted of sex trafficking involving
a 15-year-old girl and was released in less than four years.
The “serious felony” status is the foundation of the “Three Strikes” law
passed in 1994. Serious and violent felonies can result in sentences of 25
years to life on the third conviction. Its opponents, then and now,
question its value as a deterrent. Supporters say it is a matter of the
sentence fitting the crime.
“I hope,” said Grove, “that we can all agree today that repeatedly selling
minor children for sex, forcing them to be raped over and over and over
again every single day, should be considered a serious felony in the state
of California.”
The committee heard directly from a victim of the crime, Odessa Perkins. A
survivor, head of the non-profit emPOWERment that seeks to improve
conditions for fellow survivors.
“I am here to say, I was molested and raped repeatedly by Black and white
men and even some women,” Perkins said. “So it does not matter the race.
What matters is saving our children.”
As she testified, Perkins must have had a sense that her words were not
reaching the majority of the committee.
“I am here, and I look at your faces and wonder, do you care?”
The eight-member committee’s two Republicans, Juan Alanis of Modesto and
Tom Lackey of Palmdale, quickly voiced their support and moved the bill
for a full committee vote. That was to be the last support the bill would
receive.
Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, shared his reasoning against SB 14. “All
evidence has shown that longer sentences don’t actually stop things from
happening,” he said. “All they do is increase our investments in systems
of harm and subjugation at the expense of the investments that communities
need not have this be a problem, to begin with.”
Liz Ortega, D-Hayward, agreed. “Three strikes has shown it has failed many
in our community,” she said. “Sending someone to prison for the rest of
their lives is not going to fix the harm moving forward.”
Committee Democrats tend to vote as a pack, with Chairman Reginald Byron
Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, as pack leader. He said there were existing
sentence enhancements that prosecutors and judges apparently were not
using. “Adding enhancements, they still may not do it,” he said. “At the
end of the day, what we want is to protect these women.”
All Democrats on the committee declined to cast a vote. That would
normally seal a bill’s fate for the year. Instead, the pack had lit a
political fuse that would soon detonate.
On Wednesday in a brief exchange with reporters, Governor Gavin Newsom
said he had contacted Senator Grove in appreciation for her “efforts on
this and wanted to make sure she knew that today.” The issue is one “I
care deeply about. Have since my time as (San Francisco) mayor, as a
supervisor, working then with District Attorney Kamala Harris.”
Newsom signaled that the fight over SB 14 was not over. “We will be
following that up,” he said Wednesday. “We will have more to say on that
very shortly.”
Suddenly, minds began to change.
“On Tuesday, I made a bad decision,” Assemblywoman Ortega tweeted Thursday
morning. “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.”
On the Assembly Floor Thursday, Bryan moved to allow the Public Safety
Committee to rehear SB 14, which they passed. Jones-Sawyer forbid any
committee comments. “It is up for a vote only,” he said.
Bills tend to have their toughest vote in the policy committee in the
second house. The author typically does not have friends and connections
in the other chamber. And the policy committee has the greatest expertise
on the subject. Many bills rightly die there or get amended in significant
ways. That is the way the system is supposed to work.
The system can break down, however, under dominant one-party rule. A
committee majority can feel emboldened to make decisions that neither
reflect the majority of the committee’s own party nor the body at large.
When that happens, democracy fails.
That is precisely what happened Tuesday.
That is the only explanation for the Committee’s sudden and spectacular
reversal on Thursday.
In the end, do not blame this or any committee. Blame the legislative
leader who picks the committees and allows rogue ones to perpetuate. The
Assembly has a new leader now, Speaker Robert Rivas of Salinas.
All eyes should be on Rivas and his next moves. The underlying problem was
not resolved on Thursday.
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article277288433.html
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