Senator Eggman strongly condemned changes made to a bill aimed at making soliciting a child for sex a felony, including amendments that watered down the proposal and required a 10-year age gap between offender and victim. She expressed her frustration with protecting those who would buy and abuse children, emphasizing the need for stricter regulations for child sex crimes. Senator Eggman urged her colleagues to reconsider their positions, citing the negative impact on the party’s reputation due to a lenient approach to child sex trafficking and prostitution crimes. She called for a return to the original language of the bill and emphasized the importance of protecting all children from exploitation. Other lawmakers from both parties expressed support for the measure, emphasizing the need to hold offenders accountable for preying on vulnerable populations. Law enforcement experts also backed the bill, highlighting the importance of classifying the crime as a felony to give a voice to victims of sex trafficking. Critics argued that the measure was unfair to some offenders who may not have been aware of their victims’ age. The bill’s author, Senator Grove, pledged to continue fighting for the children in the state and restore the bill to its original language as it moves through the Assembly.
This unfortunate change may unfairly label certain defendants as ‘sex offenders,’ resulting in lifelong consequences for them and their families, even though there was no malicious intent.
During committee analyses, 99 groups, including numerous law enforcement organizations, supported the bill, while 12 groups, including social justice advocates, opposed it.
The revised bill was successfully passed on the Senate floor with a unanimous vote of 36-0 and will now proceed to be reviewed by the appropriate committees in the Assembly in the upcoming weeks.
