A bill to crack down on child trafficking has hit a roadblock in California’s Democrat-controlled state legislature. The proposed legislation, introduced by Republican State Senator Shannon Grove, aimed to make child trafficking a “serious felony” subject to the state’s strict “three strikes” sentencing laws. However, the bill was voted down this week by a key Assembly committee.

The bill, known as SB14, passed unanimously in the California Senate with bipartisan support. It would have classified child trafficking as a serious felony, meaning anyone convicted of that crime who also had two other past serious felony convictions would face a lengthy prison sentence of 25 years to life under California’s “three strikes” rules.

However, the Assembly Public Safety Committee, which has a Democratic majority, declined to advance the bill on Tuesday. Democratic members expressed concerns about harsher sentences and the effectiveness of the “three strikes” policy. The committee voted SB14 down, with all six Democratic members abstaining.

The move could prevent the anti-trafficking bill from becoming law this year unless it bypasses the committee. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Grove, accused Democrats of refusing to take a strong stand against child trafficking crimes. But Democratic legislators argue the bill needs more work and that longer prison terms are not the answer.

The issue has now drawn the attention of California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. He said he was surprised by the committee’s vote and wanted to understand what happened. The clashes over this bill highlight the broader debates taking place in California and nationally regarding criminal justice reforms and differing views on deterrence versus rehabilitation.

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(This post was primarily generated by Claude. It was grammar-checked using Grammarly, edited, expanded, and validated by a real human. The featured image for this post was generated by Midjourney using the prompt: “human trafficking, concept art, lovely detailed sketch art in the style of Tony Diterlizzi, Cross hatching, Strong facial expression, cartoon, multi Pen art, Photorealism, Lillian Bassman” )