Gov. Brown signs three bills from SD assembly members

SAN DIEGO - Three bills authored by San Diego-area legislators were signed into law today by Gov. Jerry Brown, including one that increases penalties in human-trafficking cases and another limiting interaction between male correctional officers and female prisoners.

Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, R-San Diego, authored AB 2105, which allows courts to triple fines and add civil penalties or damages in cases involving efforts to purchase sex from a minor.

"AB 2105 protects children from sex predators looking to make money off their suffering,'' Maienschein said in a statement released by his office. "It also provides a base statutory civil penalty of $10,000 to be awarded to minor sex trafficking victims. This new law deters child sex purchasers and provides a source of funds for the rehabilitation of victims of commercial sexual exploitation.''

Brown also signed a second Maienschein bill that requires Caltrans to include wildflowers native to California and native and climate-appropriate vegetation as a permanent part of any planting project. The bill also requires that planting projects give priority to plant species that will assist in rebuilding pollinator populations.

Brown also signed a bill by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, that places limits on interaction between male correctional officers and female inmates. Under the bill, officers will not be able to conduct pat-down searches of female inmates unless the prisoner "presents a risk of immediate harm to herself or others or risk of escape,'' and there is not a female officer immediately available.

Weber's bill also prohibits male officers from entering prison areas where female inmates may be in a state of undress unless there is a medical emergency and no female officer present to resolve the issue.