Legislative Leadership - Drops the Ball on Public Safety Concerns and Protecting Children

Excerpt from Sacramento Bee Article first published 5-7-25 with video commentary on the Point of Order Podcast with Assemblyman Josh Hoover and Tom Sheehy.

“While Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas ultimately did the right thing by finding a compromise to a bill seeking to enhance punishments for sex trafficking of minors, he failed to protect his caucus from getting pummeled from all sides for defending the indefensible. In this case, Democrats had balked at harsher penalties for those who solicit 16 and 17-year-olds for sex during a debate for Assembly Bill 379, authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, which sought to do just that. Instead of proactively preventing bad votes and politically damaging debate, Rivas let things get out of control, and his caucus was called out for it by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper and many many others. This was not an isolated incident. “