SACRAMENTO, Calif — In October 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed 890 bills into law with the vast majority set to go into effect on January 1.
Among them is a new law aimed at cracking down on child trafficking and those who profit from it.
Here is what you need to know about Senate Bill 14 which targets those convicted of trafficking of minors.
Senate Bill 14 - Harsher penalties for sex trafficking of minors
Senate Bill 14 is in response to a rise in child sex trafficking, with California at the top of the nation for the number of cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Globally, child sex trafficking is estimated to be a $150 billion-a-year industry that has been deemed as "modern-day slavery" by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
According to State Senator Shannon Grove (D-Merced) who co-authored the bill, traffickers are known to target children as young as 11 years old, forcing them to perform sexual acts with strangers. Traffickers are known to use physical violence to force the victims to remain under their control, at times branding them with tattoos and treating them as their property.
What's New
Senate Bill 14 now designates human trafficking of minors as a "serious felony" whereas currently the crime is classified as 'non-serious'.
The new designations mean that those convicted will face harsher prison sentences which will count as a strike under California's "Three Strikes" law.
The new law was unanimously supported in the Assembly and the Senate and garnered support from local, national, and international anti-human trafficking organizations.