It takes hard work to pass a bill in Sacramento. Especially when the Democrats do not want it. In this case it should have been simple. Make the selling for sex 16-17 year olds a felony. Amazingly, the Democrats did not want it. A Democrat Assemblywoman from Sacramento, Maggie Krell and a Republican State Senator, Shannon Grove did not give up. They made it an issue. They embarrassed the Democrats and Gov. Newsom. They did the hard lifting and Finally Gov. Newsom called Senator Grove “to engage”. Now the bill is out of the Assembly, will pass the Senate and Newsom will sign it.
“Currently there is a gap between age 14 and age 18 because of Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill 2020 bill, SB 1045, that allows a 24 year old to have sex with a 14 year old and escape a felony conviction and the requirement to be a registered sex offender.
Children are not lobbying for the legal right to prostitute themselves. But some groups must be seeking legal access to them. Assemblywoman Krell and Senator Grove merely want what is right for children and moral – to make purchasing sex from anyone under 18 a felony.
But Democrats would not have it.
Democrats hijacked Krell’s bill, removed the provision for the age cap for soliciting older minors, took her name off of the bill and replaced it with the Assembly Public Safety Chairman Nick Schultz’s (D-Burbank).”
You read that right—Democrats supported a bill to allow a 24 year old have sex with a 14 year old, legally. That is how sick they are.
Congrats to Grove and Krell, putting aside political Parties and ideology, to do what is right for our children. Sadly, some outside organizations that literally did nothing—no paid ads, no resolutions, no phone calls, no lobbying (except to send emails to their lists to raise money off this disaster—and then NOT spend the money raised to promote the Krell/Grove bill) are now claiming they are the cause of victory. Just because their offices are within a few blocks of the Capitol, does not mean they had anything to do with the effort to pass the bill. Watch as these groups start sending out emails bragging they got the bill passed.
Forced into Decency: California Democrats’ Political Pivot on Sex Trafficking 16-17 Year Olds
Children are not lobbying for the legal right to prostitute themselves, so who is?
By Katy Grimes, California Globe, 5/16/25 https://californiaglobe.com/articles/forced-into-decency-california-democrats-political-pivot-on-sex-trafficking-16-17-year-olds/
In perhaps one of the most disgusting displays of gruesome politics, California Democrats recently blocked a bill to make purchasing sex from 16-17-year-olds a felony, the Globe reported in “California Democrats Reach New Lows Supporting Sex Trafficking, Reparations, Welfare Fraud, Trans in Prison.” Assemblywoman Maggie Krell (D-Sacramento) and Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) authored AB 379 to make solicitation of sex from anyone under 18 a felony.
Currently there is a gap between age 14 and age 18 because of Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill 2020 bill, SB 1045, that allows a 24 year old to have sex with a 14 year old and escape a felony conviction and the requirement to be a registered sex offender.
Children are not lobbying for the legal right to prostitute themselves. But some groups must be seeking legal access to them. Assemblywoman Krell and Senator Grove merely want what is right for children and moral – to make purchasing sex from anyone under 18 a felony.
But Democrats would not have it.
Democrats hijacked Krell’s bill, removed the provision for the age cap for soliciting older minors, took her name off of the bill and replaced it with the Assembly Public Safety Chairman Nick Schultz’s (D-Burbank).
However, after a lot of foolish missteps and bad press, Democrats capitulated, as they did last year with Senator Shannon Grove’s SB 14, to make child sex trafficking a felony once again in the state – and also after they killed her bill in committee. They were lambasted across the state for being so heinous, so out of touch, and so supportive of criminals.
It wasn’t shame that drove the decision – Democrats have shown time and time again that they are incapable of feeling shame. Public outcry and constant pressure from Assembly Republicans forced Democrat leaders to announce that their course change on AB 379 to restore automatic felony charges for adults who solicit sex from 16- and 17-year-olds.
Assembly Public Safety Chairman Nick Schultz (D-Burbank), who hijacked Krell’s bill, removing her name and gutting it of the felony language, insisted on the Assembly floor Thursday that “the process worked.”
“The process” did not work. What worked was publicly exposing Democrats’ depraved support for sex with minor teens.
They flipped not out of shame; instead it was a calculated political pivot. Politics drove the decision to pass the bill. While bad politics also provides media, this was really bad politics. Democrats did not want to be labeled as supporting the sex trade of minors.
AB 379 to make solicitation of sex from anyone under 18 a felony was passed in the Assembly Thursday unanimously. Notably, Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) abstained.
The bill now heads to the State Senate where it’s expected to be heard in June.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is pretending that he is a centrist these days as he longingly dreams of a 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address, but signed Wiener’s SB 1045 into law, now claims that he does not support Democrats’ attempt to remove the felony penalty age ceiling in Krell’s bill. So, which law does Gavin support – allowing a 24 year old to have sex with a 14 year old and escape a felony conviction, or charging offenders with a felony for purchasing 16-17-year-olds for sex?
Democrats may want to consider pivoting their political focus to protecting children, not trafficking them.
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