By Milt Harris ——Bio and Archives--August 21, 2023
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It’s obvious, … The radical left has a real problem with American children. From corrupting their minds with filth and unrealistic fables about biological sexuality, to pushing for the mutilation of minors without parental consent, to the destruction of proper libraries, the left’s agenda regarding kids is a nightmare.
Now, they are dragging their feet over an obvious choice that would protect kids from being exploited and trafficked. On Wednesday, a bill that has bipartisan support was shelved again when the California State Assembly Appropriations Committee decided that they were awaiting further consideration.
This really isn’t that hard, except when it is. Keep in mind “Demorats” are involved. Besides the bill was authored by a Republican Senator, Shannon Grove, and even though it was co-authored by sixty lawmakers and takes the moral high ground to seek stiffer punishment against the trafficking of children, it was suspended.
Kate Sanchez, who is also an Assemblywoman and Appropriations Committee Member, and who co-authored the bill known as SB-14 said this in an e-mail yesterday:
“As a proud co-author of SB 14 and the mother of a 10-year-old child, it is both terrifying and unacceptable that we are not able to vote on this straightforward bill. Currently in the state of California, trafficking a minor for sex is not considered a serious felony.”
California is a uniquely unorthodox state. Any proposal that has a cost of $150,000 or more to the state, can be placed in the “suspense file.” Once in the file, the bill will be either fast tracked for approval or blocked in hearings that are held only twice per year. No comments or presentations can be made. The committees then consider the bills. In this case the bill will be considered again on September 1st, which is the last day for fiscal committees to meet and pass bills.
I want to mention a few things here. First, why is September 1st the last day for this committee to meet? These people are paid to work for the people in their state. Does their work year end September 1st? Mine doesn’t, does yours? Why aren’t bills of this nature considered and dealt with, no matter how long it takes? This is important legislation. It needs the attention, consideration, and support of all involved, not shelved so it can be dumped on September 1st. Then the guilty get to run away and hide from the public, with their decision relegated to “page ten” within two days. Meanwhile, the children's suffering continues.
Diane Dixon, A Republican from Newport Beach, another assemblywoman that co-authored the bill, disagrees that this bill needs to be thrown into the suspense file.
“Subject to the discretionary decision of the committee chair, not all bills that cost $150,000 to the state necessarily go through suspense. If there’s a high priority, high urgency, the discretion of the chair is to bring those bills forward for an immediate vote.”
“We need to expedite this. It’s unthinkable that we can’t protect our children from child trafficking. Child traffickers seem to have a higher ranking than child trafficking victims. Why are they making this process so difficult and making the victims go through this?”
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Shannon Grove, … remember she was the Republican Senator that authored the bill, must have suspected that this mysterious “suspense file” would be the card that the “Demorats” would play. In an attempt to circumvent that she made an impassioned plea at Wednesday’s meeting.
"I want to make it very clear that there's no price tag that can be placed on a victim of human trafficking, especially a child. Selling a child to be raped over and over again is a crime that is so grotesque, immoral and barbaric; it should be prevented and stopped at any cost."
To drive the horrific point home, Grove brought two victims of sex trafficking to the meeting. One of the victims, Briana Moseley, testified that her sister died after having struggled with mental issues. She had been viciously raped by the person trafficking her and his friends. Moseley added that the trafficker is still free.
Grove then added, "These young people's lives are priceless. Their traffickers should not be valued more than the victims."
Classifying child sex trafficking as a serious felony under California law would classify it as a “strikable” offense. Which means that repeat offenders or people that have committed other “strikable” offenses would face an increase in jail time. The idea, which is unbelievably clear to stable minded people, is to prevent repeat child traffickers from being released early from prison.
As an argument against saving more children and punishing the monsters that are trafficking them more severely, the American Civil Liberties Union’s lobbying arm laid out this scenario, which were also the concerns of several leftist “Demorats.”
In their lame minds they argued that the measure could result in criminalizing the sex trafficking victims, which in turn would require more funding for the state’s prison system.
Duke Cooney, a legislative advocate for the ACLU said this:
"Survivors are often forced to commit crimes by their traffickers, including recruitment, or they're working to keep other survivors safe, and they're misidentified as traffickers by law enforcement.”
During the “suspense” process it isn’t uncommon for the proposed bill to be amended. However, Grove has been adamant about not modifying the bill. In her view it has taken three years to get the bill to this point and it is well supported as is.
That being said, there seems to be very little suspense about the “Demorats” motives in placing the bill into the so called “suspense file.” They want the bill to be silently killed. The argument offered by Cooney, seems extremely lame in my opinion. So the question is why would there be anyone against stricter punishment for such a horrific crime?
It's disgusting to even think about, but this level of subversive behavior against something that seems so beneficial on the surface, usually indicates that there is a hidden money flow.
If this bill is indeed killed on September 1st, a full investigation needs to be made into those who opposed it, starting with the loudest opponents. Frankly, it’s shocking that this crime isn’t considered a “strikable” offense already. There are people protecting these cellar dwellers and they need to be exposed. They are the white-collar shield for a despicable criminal element.
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Milt spent thirty years as a sales and operations manager for an international manufacturing company. He is also a four-time published author on a variety of subjects. Now, he spends most of his time researching and writing about conservative politics and liberal folly.