The California Assembly has advanced legislation to impose harsher penalties for soliciting and buying sex from 16- and 17-year-olds. The bill also would create an exemption for cases where the offenders are within three years of the victim's age. The vote came after Democrats got caught in a public dispute earlier this month and prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom and other prominent Democrats in the state to weigh in. Republicans called the vote Thursday to advance the legislation a victory for California children. The bill now heads to the Senate, where a similar bill was rejected last year.
