California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Wednesday that repealed a law he signed in 2022 that decriminalized loitering and had enabled sex trafficking. The move came despite criticism from some Democrats.
As Breitbart News had reported, Newsom signed SB 357 in 2022 after State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) pushed to decriminalize loitering. Street prostitution — including of children — exploded.
The new bill, AB 379, restores misdemeanor penalties for loitering. It also toughens penalties for sex solicitation of a minor, if the victim of solicitation is more than 3 years younger than the perpetrator.
The Sacramento Bee reported:
Under the new law, adults who attempt to purchase sex with someone who is 16 or 17 years old will be charged with a felony, unless the defendant is within three years of the victim’s age. The law also reestablishes the crime of loitering with the intent to purchase sex, which the California Legislature struck from the books in 2022.
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“By signing this bill into law, California is again going on record to support survivors and victims of human trafficking, while penalizing those who solicit minors,” the Governor said in an emailed statement to The Bee Wednesday.
The bill only advanced after Democrats blocked efforts by one of their own, State Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento), to make sex solicitation of minors aged 16 and 17 a felony. Democrats had previously blocked efforts by Republican State Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) to make sex trafficking of minors a “serious felony,” limiting that category to victims under the age of 16, as Breitbart News had reported.
Newsom, who campaigned for Democrats in the key primary state of South Carolina earlier this month, is trying to strike a contrast with the far-left reality of California governance as he readies a presidential run.
In this case, that meant repealing a law that he himself had enacted just three years ago — and doing so with the help of Republicans and moderate Democrats, who are often powerless within the state legislature.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
