California Assembly advances bill to toughen penalties for soliciting sex from older teens

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Assembly on Thursday approved harsher penalties for soliciting sex from 16- and 17-year-olds, with an exception for cases where there is an age difference of three years or less between both parties.

It’s an updated version of legislation that recently threw Democrats into political turmoil, causing Gov. Gavin Newsom to break with legislative leaders and Republicans to accuse Democrats of protecting people who prey on teens.

Young people ages 16 or 17 were not included in bipartisan legislation on sex trafficking signed by Newsom last year. The law, which took effect this year, allows prosecutors to charge those who solicit and buy sex from minors 15 or younger with a felony. It left in place an existing law that limits the penalty for soliciting older teens to a misdemeanor.

Some moderate Democrats, siding with Republicans, wanted to see harsher punishments to protect more children, while others say the original measure could be misused by parents upset about interracial or LGBTQ+ relationships to target older teens involved in consensual relationships.

Democrats earlier this month r ejected a provision that would have allowed prosecutors to charge people accused of soliciting of older teens with a felony. Assemblymember Nick Schultz, the chair of the public safety committee, said at the time he wanted to gather more feedback.

Following fierce and swift backlash, the legislation was amended to toughen the penalties for soliciting older teens, but only when the solicitors are more than three years older.

“I don’t view this as a win for a particular party. I view this as a win for all Californians,” Schultz said after the vote.

The bill also would create a new victim support fund, make it a crime for those who loiter to buy sex and increase penalties for hotels and businesses that are complicit in sex trafficking.

Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho, who helped craft the legislation, said the bill creates a new tool for law enforcement to go after predators. California already has laws in place that make it a felony to contact a person under 18 to engage in sexual activity in California, sexting a minor and engaging in sex with a minor if the age gap between the parties is more than three years.

“There is a difference between a 55-year-old man who was soliciting sex from a 16-year-old versus an 18-year-old soliciting,” Ho said. “That’s what was done here in a very nuanced and measured way.”

Republicans said the Thursday vote is a victory for children in California.

“It has always been for me about good policy and about justice,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said before the vote. “I’m glad that today we come together and we can push through this bill, which was a righteous bill from the beginning to protect 16- and 17-year-olds.”

The bill now heads to the Senate. Democrats in the Senate last year rejected a similar effort to increase penalties for soliciting older teens.