Key California Assembly committee blocks bill to make child trafficking a 'serious felony'

submitted by hfxB0oyA from news.yahoo.com

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[–]hfxB0oyA[S] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

People generally don't vote for things that could land them or their friends in jail.

[–]IMissPorn 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

How did this law define child trafficking? Trafficking is such a nebulous concept that I immediately get a bit suspicious when people bring it up without explaining what they mean. Knowing what it actually means here would add a lot more context to this story. (My first guess though is that it might include helping a minor sneak into the country, which of course is something Democrats strongly support.)

[–]Musky 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB14

I saw one problematic part:

selling, furnishing, administering, giving, or offering to sell, furnish, administer, or give to a minor any heroin, cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), or any methamphetamine-related drug, as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 11055 of the Health and Safety Code, or any of the precursors of methamphetamines

Ephedrine, the asthma medication, is a precursor of methamphetamine. Making it a felony to give kids Bronkaid is stupid. They shouldn't have tacked on this or any of the other bullshit they did for a child trafficking law.

I'm guessing this was politicking, including other agendas along with child trafficking and demonizing those who voted against the bill for being for child trafficking.

[–]IMissPorn 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for taking the time to find that. To be honest it's a little bit confusing, but I think most of the text (the black) is existing law, which includes the part you objected to. There are some odd changes related to references to other laws using the version of those laws that existed on certain dates, which is too much for me to figure out, but it does appear the main change is indeed adding "human trafficking of a minor" to a list of "serious felonies". The definition of "human trafficking" referenced is here and seems relatively straight forward (obtaining labor by coercion, causing prostitution by a minor, or attempting to do either).

[–]hfxB0oyA[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Good question. I admire your skepticism and critical thought.