Assemblyman Heath Flora recently joined the Sheriff of Sacramento County on a large sting operation going after criminals who target kids for sexual exploitation. The experience left Flora stunned and horrified.
“There were things that we saw, evidence we looked at, that will haunt me for a very long time,” said Flora after the sting operation. “As a father of two young daughters, it really made me want to do something to help.”
In California law, there is a list of crimes that make an incarcerated person ineligible for early release credits. AB 1898 would add the possession of child pornography to that list of crimes.
“Committing acts of physical sexual violence on children is already on the list of crimes that disqualify incarcerated persons from earning early release credits,” Flora explained of the bill. “However, the possession of illicit material involving our kids (child pornography) is not on that list.”
Last year, while speaking in support of SB 14 (Grove), a bill that would add 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, as a proud member of Team Kids, Flora has introduced his own bill, AB 1898.
AB 1898 (Flora) – Crimes: related to child pornography: early release credits. This bill 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.
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.
He has a district office at 578 N. Wilma Ave., Suite B in Ripon. You can also visit the website, https://ad09.asmrc.org/ for more information.
