This past week, Assemblyman Heath Flora announced the second of two bills aimed at protecting children from child predators and human trafficking. Both bills were inspired by Flora’s experience joining the Sacramento County Sheriff on a large sting operation to track down and apprehend criminals who target kids for sexual exploitation.
“We asked the Sheriff and his team what steps we could take at the state level to address the issue of child sexual exploitation and trafficking,” said Flora. “Getting ‘tough-on-crime’ laws passed in the California Legislature can be a challenge, but we are hopeful for bipartisan unity when it comes to protecting kids.”
Current law allows for a judge to authorize the interception of electronic communications with probable cause that the individual is committing or about to commit certain felonies related to murder, kidnapping, and other serious crimes. However, child sexual exploitation is not on this list of felonies.
“Some of the text messages and other electronic correspondence we saw between suspects planning to sexually exploit children were extremely disturbing,” Flora said of the sting operation. “These people, if you can even call them people, talk openly and in explicit detail about what they plan to do with these kids.”
AB 1892 (Flora) would add child pornography and exploitation-related felonies to the list of crimes eligible for expedited search warrants if a judge determines probable cause.
This is similar in logic to AB 1898 (Flora), introduced in February, which would add similar child exploitation crimes to the list of crimes that make an incarcerated person ineligible for early release credits.
“OK let’s keep it simple; AB 1892 and AB 1898 together make it easier to catch, and not release, these pedos,” Flora explained of the two bills. “Both bills work within existing law to make things more efficient and effective.”
Last year, while speaking in support of SB 14 (Grove), a bill that added child human trafficking to the list of “serious felonies” under California law, Assemblyman Flora asked his colleagues in the chambers to “Pick a team. Pick kids, or pick pedophiles.” This year, Flora has introduced his own measures, AB 1892 and AB 1898 to help the fight.
AB 1892 would expedite the search warrant application process allowing the court to issue an order authorizing an interception of wire or electronic communications of child predators if a judge finds that there is probable cause to believe an individual is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a felony violation of specified statutes relating to the child pornography and exploitation.
AB 1898 would include specified felonies involving, among other things, the knowing depiction, production, distribution, advertising, possession, control, and use of material depicting a person under 18 years of age engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined, in the list of felonies that the commission of which make a person ineligible for credits against a sentence as provided above.
Assemblyman Flora serves the communities of Acampo, Copperopolis, Del Rio, Denair, Empire, Escalon, Farmington, Galt, Hickman, Hughson, Ione, La Grange, Lathrop, Linden, Lockeford, Lodi, Manteca, Oakdale, Rancho Murieta, Ripon, Riverbank, Salida, Waterford, and Wilton in the state’s Ninth Assembly District.
