A bill targeting consumers of the child sex trafficking industry was unanimously approved by California lawmakers.

Assembly Bill 379 passed on July 7 with a 6–0 vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which focuses on the cost to taxpayers of new bills.

AB 379, which was introduced in February, specifically targets the buyers of commercial sex. It would authorize felony punishment for solicitation of any minor by an adult who is more than three years older than the minor, as well as a misdemeanor penalty for loitering with intent to purchase commercial sex.

“There is a real human cost to human trafficking and exploitation in our community,” Assemblyman Nick Schultz, who represents California’s 44th district, 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 was introduced by Assemblymember Maggy Krell, a Sacramento Democrat who gained notoriety while prosecuting the operators of Backpage.com while working for the California Department of Justice. Her efforts ultimately led to the shutdown of Backpage in 2018. Krell was elected to the Assembly this year.

If passed, the bill would impose tougher penalties for those who solicit minors or loiter to purchase sex.

As members of his party shot down a provision of the bill to strengthen penalties for purchasing sex from 16- and 17-year-olds this past spring, California Gov. Gavin Newsom intervened with a statement.

“The law should treat all sex predators who solicit minors the same—as a felony, regardless of the intended victim’s age. Full stop,” the governor’s office previously said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

Newsom’s comments came after the Public Safety Committee required Krell to remove a provision designating the purchase of sex from 16- and 17-year-olds a felony.

“They did that to my bill last year,” state Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican from Bakersfield, told The Epoch Times in April.

“They excluded 16- and 17-year-olds from the felony provisions, treating them like adults, which is completely absurd.

“They will not allow perpetrators that loiter and stand around and try to buy them for sex to be punished.”

AB 379 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. If convicted, those who loiter with the intent to purchase sex would face a misdemeanor and pay up to a $1,000 fine, which goes to a fund for survivors.

The bill also establishes a pioneering Survivor Support Fund through which funds would be disbursed to community-based organizations fronted by survivors of human trafficking. Support services would include housing, mental health support, job training, and more.

When she introduced the bill, Krell noted that AB 379 would support victims and give law enforcement more tools to prosecute buyers of sex from trafficking victims.

“Demand is the buyers,” she said. “The rows of cars of men lined up on street corners to buy teenagers for sex. Without the buyers, we don’t really have sex trafficking.”

The bill has drawn 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 others. At the July 7 hearing, 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.

In opposition to the bill are the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the LA Public Defenders Union, and the San Francisco Public Defenders Office, who argue that the provision against loitering could lead to profiling and increased deportations for noncitizens who are charged with felonies.

Ann Block, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit, said the new law could give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) new authority for its operations.

“The bill would subject more people to traumatic ICE arrests, detention, and deportation,” Block said at the June 7 hearing.

Block added that the state would see increased costs as a result of 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.