Bill Text: CA AB12 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Abolition of Child Commerce, Exploitation, and Sexual

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-3)

Status: (Passed) 2011-07-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 75, Statutes of 2011. [AB12 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB12-Chaptered.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 12	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  75
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 12, 2011
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 11, 2011
	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 27, 2011
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 19, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 9, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Swanson
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfield, Dickinson, Halderman,
Jeffries, Bonnie Lowenthal, and Portantino)
   (Coauthor: Senator Fuller)

                        DECEMBER 6, 2010

   An act to add Section 261.9 to the Penal Code, relating to human
trafficking.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 12, Swanson. Abolition of Child Commerce, Exploitation, and
Sexual Slavery Act of 2011.
   Under existing law, any person who is convicted of pimping or
procuring a minor under the age of 16 for prostitution may be ordered
by a court to pay an additional fine not to exceed $5,000 to be
deposited in the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be available for
appropriation to fund child sexual exploitation and child sexual
abuse victim counseling centers and prevention programs, as provided.

   This bill would enact the Abolition of Child Commerce,
Exploitation, and Sexual Slavery Act of 2011, and would require that
a person who is convicted of seeking to procure or procuring the
sexual services of a prostitute, if the prostitute is under 18 years
of age, be ordered to pay an additional fine not to exceed $25,000 to
be available upon appropriation by the Legislature to fund programs
and services for commercially sexually exploited minors in the
counties where the underlying offenses are committed.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Abolition of Child Commerce, Exploitation, and Sexual Slavery Act of
2011 or ACCESS Act of 2011.
  SEC. 2.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Sexual slavery of minors through human trafficking is one of
the most sophisticated forms of organized crime in the country and is
now globally recognized as a modern day form of slavery.
   (2) Human trafficking and sexual exploitation involve the
recruitment, transportation, and sale of people, primarily women and
children, to work in the sex trade. California has become a major hub
of international and domestic interstate human trafficking.
   (3) A United States Department of Justice study estimates that
over 300,000 American children are at risk of being forced into
prostitution. Human trafficking and child sexual exploitation are not
phenomena exclusive to countries outside the United States or to
states other than California. It is a universal crisis that is
occurring in our own backyards and in our city streets in broad
daylight.
   (4) Children are not safe from trafficking and exploitation in
California. Some of the children trafficked are as young as four
years old, but many more are only 11 or 12 years of age.
   (5) Researchers agree that internationally the median age for the
entrance of girls into prostitution is 14 years of age. In the United
States, the ages vary from state to state, and in California the
average age is about 12 years old.
   (6) The business of the trafficking of children would not exist
without the demand for the services of those children by the men and
women who purchase those services on the streets. California needs to
increase the fines against persons who engage children in these
illicit activities.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting the Abolition
of Child Commerce, Exploitation, and Sexual Slavery Act of 2011 to
recast the state's laws relating to human trafficking and child sex
slavery to treat the trafficked children as victims, rather than
prostitutes. It is also the intent of the Legislature that the ACCESS
Act of 2011 will ensure that persons funding the illicit activities
of human traffickers and paying for the services of child sex slaves
are treated as severely under the law as an adult engaging in a sex
act with a minor. The predator should be dealt with the same,
regardless of whether that person is paying for the sexual services
of the minor he or she is abusing.
   (c) It is the intent of the Legislature that the ACCESS Act of
2011 further these purposes and also ensure that these victimized
children are given access to proper treatment and the resources they
need to be safe from the men and women who exploit them commercially.

  SEC. 3.  Section 261.9 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
   261.9.  (a) Any person convicted of seeking to procure or
procuring the sexual services of a prostitute in violation of
subdivision (b) of Section 647, if the prostitute is under 18 years
of age, shall be ordered by the court, in addition to any other
penalty or fine imposed, to pay an additional fine in an amount not
to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).
   (b) Every fine imposed and collected pursuant to this section
shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be available to fund
programs and services for commercially sexually exploited minors in
the counties where the underlying offenses are committed.