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Nathan Hochman, the leading Republican candidate for California Attorney General, endorsed Senator Shannon Grove’s SB 1042, which for the first time makes human trafficking a violent and serious felony in California.
“Senator Shannon Grove’s SB 1042 is a much-needed bill to address the ongoing, multi-billon dollar human trafficking crisis in California,” Hochman said. “It’s unacceptable that California’s leadership, particularly the California Attorney General, has treated human trafficking as a non-serious, non-violent felony for so long. With this new bill, we have a chance to send a clear and unmistakable message to human traffickers that their despicable crimes will be fully prosecuted and punished here in California.”
SB 1042, which was sponsored by Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer, would empower law enforcement to more forcefully investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of human trafficking.
By designating human trafficking as a violent and serious felony, it would constitute a strike under California’s three strikes law.
Under current California law, human trafficking is considered a “non-violent” and “non-serious” crime, convicted human traffickers only serve 50% of their sentences rather than 85% of their sentences if the crime is designated a violent, serious felony.
“SB 1042’s human trafficking solution is critically needed, which is why you would expect Attorney General Rob Bonta to come out in support of this bill. Instead, his silence on the bill is deafening,” Hochman said. “California is one of the largest hotspots for human trafficking in the nation, and to have an Attorney General that is silent on the issue is an insult to the families that have been affected by these heinous crimes. If AG Bonta doesn’t want to do his job, then we need to let him go and bring in someone like myself who stand up for human trafficking victims.”
