Now that the histrionics have calmed — and before California Republicans pick another topic to distort with lies, over-dramatic outrage and public tantrums — it should be said that the California GOP didn’t succeed in anything last week other than showing the dishonesty at the heart of who they are.

Assembly Bill 379 was all the rage (literally) in Sacramento for two weeks because it sought to enhance penalties for the solicitation and trafficking of minors. But what angry rants on Facebook won’t illuminate is that this was also about trying to get the complexities of lawmaking right.

Assembly Democrats, not Republicans, tried to put reasonable controls on AB 379. Republicans seized on this by accusing Democrats of siding with pedophiles. This lie was enabled by many Republicans, and the governor of California, and sadly, some members of the media, too, none of whom seemed to have actually read the bill authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento.

By the time it was over, only minor adjustments had been made to Krell’s bill, but lots of damage had been done to the brand of Assembly Democrats and Krell’s relationship with her colleagues, not to mention completely obscuring the point of the issue: Protecting sex trafficking survivors.

In his ongoing effort to tarnish the other side of the aisle, Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher released a statement this week proclaiming that the amendments to the bill were “another big win for common sense, brought to you by Assembly Republicans.”

That’s a load of crock. Too many “leaders” distorted what reasonable people did to make AB 379 more responsible..

Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper wrote on X that I “applauded” AB 379 being killed by “killed.” One would think that a former longtime assemblymember would know this claim was false, but that’s too much to expect from our sheriff.

In his tweet, Cooper did what cops always do: They spread fear to leverage legislation that’s as draconian as possible. The thought that maybe some young people of color, or young queer people, could unfairly be swept up in the AB 379 hysteria was not a consideration for Cooper. But he wasn’t alone.

Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, who was a co-author with Krell on AB 379 at one point, sure sounds like she misunderstood the state legislative process when she claimed on her own X account that “radical progressives” were “deliberately trying to mislead the public with these deceptive amendments.”

What Gallagher, Cooper and Grove won’t tell you amid their fearmongering and name-calling is that all their arguments could be boiled down to this: Lies make for a better sound bite than the truth.

The only change that occurred between Krell introducing the bill, having her name removed from the bill (because she refused to accept any edits from her colleagues), and getting back on the bill was some common-sense inserted by the Democrats for cases that fall within an age difference of three years with no evidence of sex trafficking.

But that doesn’t fit the state GOP’s nasty narrative.

What AB 379 does

AB 379 is incredibly complicated, in no small part because it puts further restrictions on top of laws that already exist to protect minors from predators and sex trafficking. So the new proposals are complicated by how they would interact with laws already in place. Despite what Assembly Leader Gallagher would have his newsletter readers believe (undoubtedly a huge readership) there’s actually a lot of nuance to the issue.

Republicans want anyone 18 or older who has sex with a 16- or 17-year-old to be prosecuted as a sex offender and labeled a felon for the rest of their lives.

Dems wanted to maintain the standard set by SB 1414, that the strongest penalties were reserved for underage victims being sex trafficked, and not widen the net by so much that it could catch young adults who made a grievous (but not life-ruining) mistake in the same snare.

The deal that got worked out between the two parties now includes tougher penalties for businesses that are complicit in human trafficking, including raising fines for hotels and motels that turn a blind eye to the practice from as little as $1,000 to now as high as $25,000 and authorizes the state Attorney General to pursue civil penalties.

The bill also allows for young adults within three years of the age of the victim to be given a more lenient punishment if the situation warrants it, while a second offense would still be an automatic felony.

In her original language, Krell thought proving in court that if the minor was the victim of sex trafficking, it created a loophole that protected predators. Her Dem colleagues offered suggestions to make the bill stronger, fairer and more amenable to lawmakers, who have the legislative experience Krell does not. They understand that you can’t make laws based on hard lines in the sand for 40 million people living 40 million different lives.

Krell refused. And, in refusing, her name was taken off the bill.

Assemblymembers Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, and Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, were placed as the new authors, and then the two presumably worked behind the scenes to agree with Krell. That agreement was for cases where the solicited minor is three years younger (or less) than the defendant, it is a misdemeanor on the first offense. In other cases, where the minor is under 16 and has been trafficked, or the minor is more than three years younger than the defendant, it’s a “wobbler,” meaning it’s up to the judge and prosecutor to pursue a misdemeanor or felony based on their own judgment of the circumstances. For all second offenses, regardless of ages, it’s a felony.

Krell was then placed back on the bill as an author, and the California GOP rejoiced in their “big win for common sense.”

Shortly thereafter, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, quietly rolled the bill through the committee without issue, noting only that it had “garnered a great deal of interest.” AB 379 will next be heard on the Assembly floor.

And not a single person involved in this debacle is pro-sex trafficking of minors, despite whatever disgusting mud gets thrown from behind the safety of keyboards.

No one wins here

The fact is that AB 379 would have increased penalties without forethought for atypical cases. Such an uncompromising law would have deeply affected queer kids and kids of color who are most at risk of being caught up in these kinds of inextricable legal snares.

The bill further victimizes sex workers by allowing law enforcement to profile anyone walking down a street they have deemed a known area for sex work.

The California GOP has shown many times before (and undoubtedly will again) that it doesn’t draw the line at drafting ill-conceived laws that would hurt communities not known to make big campaign contributions.

But neither is the Democratic Party blameless: It has repeatedly shown it is incapable of defending itself or making a salient point in the public square, preferring instead to make deals behind closed doors for ultimately mediocre outcomes that merely quiet the harassment, not end it.

Despite what Republicans may tout on social media, they only won in the court of public opinion — a court they stacked by spreading spurious lies, awful accusations and fabricated stakes. They certainly eked out a “win.”

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