Senate public safety committee advances AB 379 to expand penalties for solicitation of minors; loitering provision draws concern

The Senate Public Safety Committee advanced Assembly Bill 379 on June 10, a measure that restores criminal penalties for solicitation of 16- and 17-year-olds when the adult is at least three years older and adds a misdemeanor for loitering with intent to purchase sex. The committee voted to pass the bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The bill’s author, Assemblymember Schultz, told the committee that AB 379 “restores criminal penalties for solicitation of a minor of the ages of 16 and 17 if there's an age difference of 3 years between the victim and the perpetrator,” and that the measure is the result of years of work with victim advocates. He said the bill also “includes tougher penalties for the businesses that are complicit in human trafficking” and creates grants and fines to fund survivor services.

Schultz summarized major provisions: felony authorization for solicitation of a minor by an adult more than three years older, a misdemeanor for loitering with intent to purchase commercial sex, education requirements for people placed on probation after solicitation convictions, and an enforcement mechanism authorizing the California attorney general to pursue civil penalties against establishments that allow trafficking. He said fines collected would go into a survivor support fund and noted the bill creates a vertical prosecution grant program for specialized human-trafficking units.

Sacramento County District Attorney Tin Ho, in support, framed AB 379 as a “strategic approach to dealing with human trafficking” that is “precise, ... victim centered and survivor focused.” He said the bill allows prosecutors “the opportunity to go after those individuals who are buying sex” while treating differently situated people differently, citing the bill’s three-year age gap as a limiting element.

A survivor who testified described being trafficked as a minor and urged passage. The witness said the bill’s survivor support fund is “so vital” and called holding buyers accountable a “win.”

Committee members praised the solicitation provisions but raised repeated and specific concerns about the loitering offense added to the bill. Senator Wiener asked whether the loitering misdemeanor would trigger immigration consequences, saying, “Is loitering...a deportable offense?” Committee members and multiple witnesses said that a prior statute with similar language had been treated as deportable and that the loitering provision could disproportionately affect migrants and marginalized groups.

Opponents and some civil-rights and sex-worker advocacy groups said the loitering provision would criminalize innocent or low-level conduct and could be used to target transgender people, migrants and people of color. One witness warned that loitering laws historically have been applied to queer people and communities of color, and argued the provision could increase harms to the very people the bill aims to protect.

Senators stressed they supported strengthening tools to prosecute human traffickers while many urged removing or substantially revising the loitering language. Several members — including Senator Weiner and Senator Caballero — said they would support moving the solicitation portions forward but pressed the author and the chair to remove the loitering provision before the bill reaches the full Senate. The bill’s author committed to continuing negotiations and to work with interested senators on the loitering language before the next floor steps.

The committee passed a motion to send AB 379 to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee recorded the bill as passed on a unanimous recorded vote in committee.