By Kimberly Hayek
Contributing Writer
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Wednesday to bolster penalties for adults who solicit minors for sex.
The new law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and increases prison terms for offenders convicted of soliciting teens under 16 for sexual acts.
The legislation, authored by state Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, passed with bipartisan support in the California Legislature last month after dissent from some lawmakers regarding certain aspects of the legislation. Specifically, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed the bill, but only after rejecting amendments that would have weakened penalties for soliciting 16- and 17-year-olds.
Assembly Bill 379, which was initially introduced in February, establishes loitering with the intent to solicit commercial sex as a misdemeanor, imposes fines as high as $25,000 for soliciting minors under 16, and allows felony human trafficking charges for repeat offenders who buy sex from minors.
The bill also mandates sex offender registration for those convicted. Such offenses were previously classified as misdemeanors in certain cases, raising concerns over lenient sentencing.
“There is a real human cost to human trafficking and exploitation in our community,” Assemblyman Nick Schultz, a Democrat representing parts of Los Angeles, said during the hearing.
“So, while there are costs in terms of detection, and enforcement, and sentencing, we also have to balance that with the tradeoff and real cost of the lives that are impacted by this plague that is very much alive in our society.”
The bill drew support from the California District Attorney Association, the California Police Chiefs Association, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the city of Stockton, the Association for LA Deputy Sheriffs, the League of County Board of Supervisors, and other organizations.
At a July 7 hearing for the bill, representatives for various public officials voiced support, including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh, and the city of Carlsbad.
Among the bill’s detractors were the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the LA Public Defenders Union, and the San Francisco Public Defenders Office, who say that the provision regarding those who are loitering with the intention of purchasing sex could lead to profiling and increased deportations for noncitizens who are charged with felonies.
Ann Block, an attorney with the nonprofit Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said the new law could grant Immigration and Customs Enforcement new authority for its operations.
“The bill would subject more people to traumatic ICE arrests, detention, and deportation,” Block said at a June 7 hearing about the bill. She also said the state would incur increased costs due to the bill.
“There are going to be significant costs in terms of ICE detention and families being separated in California, families going on welfare because of that, that’s happening right now, and that would happen even more if this bill passes,” she said.
The bill also looks to create a first-of-its-kind survivor support fund. Money from the fund would go to community-based organizations led by survivors of human trafficking. The sponsor noted that support includes housing, mental health services and job training.
While introducing the bill to the committee, Assemblywoman Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, said it would support victims and give law enforcement better tools to prosecute the buyers.
“Demand is the buyers,” she said. “It is the rows of cars of men lined up on street corners to buy teenagers for sex,” she said. “Without the buyers, we don’t really have sex trafficking.”
The bill also reinstates penalties for offenses that were decriminalized by a 2022 California law, such as loitering with the intent to purchase a victim.
Opponents, including survivors of child trafficking, focused on this aspect of the law in their testimony.
Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, a Democrat from Los Angeles, opposed the bill, arguing it would disproportionately impact communities of color.
Also opposing the bill was the director of programs at Rising International, Jess Torres, a child trafficking survivor, who said it depends on a vaguely defined suspicion of intent to do something criminal, rather than evidence.
“This bill will only escalate violence against survivors because persons who are trafficked in commercial sex are harmed when they operate in a criminalized environment,” Torres said. “When buyers believe they are taking on greater risk, they often become more demanding, and that pressure frequently becomes compromising.”
