California Democrats are fighting Republicans (and themselves) over whether buying minors for sex should be a felony or whether there are some occasions when it isn’t that bad.
Democrats in the California legislature blocked a bill from a fellow Democratic assemblywoman, Maggy Krell, until she agreed to remove part of the bill that would make buying a 16- or 17-year-old for sex an automatic felony. Republicans tried to amend the bill with Krell’s support to keep that provision in place, and then tried to amend a soft-on-crime bill from another Democratic assemblyman to include the provision. Democrats blocked it both times.
It raises some questions: Why do California Democrats think that buying a minor for sex shouldn’t be an automatic felony? In what scenario is buying a minor for sex not a big deal? Or are 16- and 17-year-olds not minors deserving of added sex trafficking protections according to California Democrats?
In fact, California Democrats are so committed to this that they removed Krell from her bill. Krell is a former prosecutor who helped take down the website Backpage over its role in sex trafficking. She is also a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat who worked for Planned Parenthood against President Donald Trump, meaning she isn’t exactly some fraudulent Democrat in bad standing with the party. Still, she was punished for thinking that buying minors for sex should be an automatic felony.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) was not immune to Assembly Democrats’ ire. He similarly supported the automatic felony provision, only to be told by Democratic Assemblyman Nick Schultz (who took over Krell’s bill) that he was spreading misinformation. Instead, Assembly Democrats want to hold an “informational hearing” in the fall to really ponder whether buying a minor for sex is a felony offense or whether some people who buy minors should be treated with more leeway than others.
The excuses are tired and pathetic. Assembly Democrats are dressing this up as an LGBT or a racial matter because it is all they can fall back on to avoid talking about it as a crime matter. People who buy minors for sex should be considered felons every time without fail. You do not need an “informational hearing” months from now to come to that conclusion.