A local state senator’s contentious human trafficking bill was placed in a “suspense file,” adding new uncertainty to its fate, after it was heard in a fiscal committee Wednesday.
Bakersfield Republican Shannon Grove’s Senate Bill 14 would reclassify child trafficking as a serious or violent felony so defendants face harsh sentences under the “three strikes” law, which mandates that a person convicted of a third serious or violent felony be sentenced to at least 25 years to life.
The Assembly’s Appropriations Committee — which heard Grove’s bill and attracted public comments from Bakersfield residents — is required to review bills’ fiscal impact. Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, noted in Wednesday’s hearing it’s standard practice for any bill costing $150,000 or more to get placed into the suspense file.
Multiple bills die in the suspense file without a public hearing every year, according to CalMatters. The Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote Sept. 1 to decide which bills get pulled from the suspense file. The bill would ultimately have to pass the Senate floor.
Grove said imprisoning repeat offenders is affordable in California, while a victim suffering from trafficking incurs lifelong costs.
“There’s no price tag that … can be placed on a victim of human trafficking, especially a child,” Grove said during the hearing. “Selling a child to be raped over and over again is a crime that’s so grotesque, immoral and barbaric, it should be prevented and stopped at any cost.”
A victim who endures psychological issues and physical issues when trafficked may require the state’s intervention along with housing and social services, Grove said. Taking care of five trafficked children costs California $1.45 million for basic services, excluding expenses associated with police officers, advocates and surgeries needed for victims, she added.
Grove also noted she’s worked to ensure the bill doesn’t criminalize victims, an argument used by Democrats opposing criminal justice measures that call for stiff penalties.
But victims charged with human trafficking-related crimes across California when forced to work with a trafficker are often misidentified by law enforcement, Duke Cooney, a legislative advocate with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in opposition to the bill. He noted increasing penalties only hurts victims that get charged by district attorneys across California.
Brianna Moseley, who was trafficked along with her sister, Blair, asked Appropriations Committee members how much a trafficked individual’s life is worth. She said her sister was brutally raped by her trafficker and his friends.
Blair regressed into a childlike state and she swung in and out of state mental institutions, costing California $8 million, Moseley said. In April 2022, her sister walked onto Interstate 5 in Sacramento and died, she added.
“My beautiful sister returned to my family in a box of ashes,” Moseley said. “As her trafficker walks free, my family would pay any amount to have her back for just one day.”
