New Law Waiting for Governor to Sign Makes It a Felony to Buy 16-17 Year Olds for Sex

By JW August

It took some doing, but a bill that would increase penalties for people who buy sex from a minor has cleared its last hurdle in Sacramento and is now awaiting the signature of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The new law would make it a felony for older adults to buy 16-17 year olds for sex. And it would make it a crime again to loiter with the intent to purchase anyone for sex.

Newsom supported the bill early as it began a long and torturous journey to Senate approval.The governor is joined by numerous advocacy groups who oppose selling humans for sex — they collectively pushed long and hard on Assembly Bill 379 through a field of political landmines.

Dr.Stephany Powell, a retired LAPD Sergeant who ran the vice unit for the department, shared a message with hundreds of activists who were part of the effort to support the bill.

“I have tears of joy as I write this, AB 379 just passed 33 to 2. Huge applause for the warriors who stayed in the fight.”

One such warrior is Marjorie Saylor, with the California Survivor Coalition. A San Diego resident, she is a survivor of trafficking and a leader in the anit-trafficking movement locally and across the state and is an advocate for survivors.

The passing of AB379, she said,  “is a huge win for survivors, we finally feel we are moving the needle toward addressing the demand side of trafficking. Without demand, there is no need for a supply of victims.”

Saylor attended every committee hearing as the bill moved from the Assembly side to the Senate.

“It was an uphill battle, a roller coaster of emotions,” she said.

Saylor recalls in committee hearings how sex workers “weaponized the current political climate around the immigration crisis” by testifying that AB379 would make it a deportable criminal offense “to smoke a cigarette outside of a strip club, to walk to work as a porn producer, or wave out the window at someone you thought looked cute.”

The video of this testimony is on the website of the California Sex Workers Outreach Project in Los Angeles, which says the legislation was “built for abuse.”

“This law expresses unequivocally that children and adults are not for sale,” said San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan. “It provides law enforcement with the essential tools to protect victims from traffickers and criminal buyers, as well as expands resources to support victims in their recovery from trauma.

“I am proud to co-sponsor Assembly Bill 379 and thankful to Assemblywoman Krell for authoring this vital legislation to strengthen our human trafficking laws. By improving these laws, we can safeguard the most vulnerable and prevent irreparable harm to lives.”

As the bill moved through the two chambers, it encountered a number of stops and starts, a dramatic press conference by the Governor calling for its passage on the assembly side, Democrats taking opposing sides of the legislation which was originally written by a fellow Democrat, Assemblywoman Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento), a former prosecutor.

The bill would become stuck in the Assembly by legislators who feared the loitering element would lead to more arrests of minority men. It eventually survived and moved to the Senate side.

On the Senate side lawmakers wanted to strip the portion of the bill that allowed prosecutors to levy felonies against those who paid 16 and 17 year olds for sex. Krell was asked to remove the element.

She refused, and her name was stripped from the bill, replaced by the chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Nick Schultz (D-Burbank). Saylor recalls she and other advocates thought the bill would soon be dead or likely get further watered down.  But Schultz, instead, pushed the bill through committee with key elements intact –plus more.

Krell’s name was later added back to the bill as a co-author.

The leader of the Democrats in the Senate side who opposed the original language of the bill was Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). Wiener did have some skin in this game because he was the author of an earlier bill SB357 which became law, which allowed loitering on the streets, and police couldn’t question anyone loitering without probable cause. The San Diego Police Department and other police agencies said they believe as a  result of the Weiner bill, prostitution and pimping increased dramatically on California streets.

Wiener and supporters eventually folded on opposing the AB37 element that would lower the age to 16 and 17 year olds, something he originally opposed.  But he continued right up to the end to oppose the loitering element in the new bill.

Other elements of the bill give more power to prosecutors in solicitation cases. Adults face a potential felony if they solicit a minor more than three years younger than they are. In other words, if a 21-year-old solicits a 15-year-old, that is a potential felony charge. Loitering in a public place with the intent to buy sex is now a misdemeanor.

In addition, Schultz added more anti-trafficking elements to the new bill. It will increase the penalties for businesses in areas with a high level of prostitution for not posting signs to deter or warn the public.

For example, the signs might say, “Warning Prostitution and Drug Area” or “Area of High Prostitution activity.”

In San Diego, much activity is in and around hotels/ motels  as well.

The bill says the state Attorney General may prosecute those “knowingly turning a blind eye” to what is happening in their hotel.

A final element provides funding for 11 district attorneys in the state that would allow them to keep the same prosecution team on a case from arrest to sentencing.  Normally, new attorneys for the district attorney work a case early in the process, starting at arraignment. Then as the case progresses, more experienced prosecutors step in.