Democratic lawmakers advanced a contentious proposal by one of their Republican colleagues to increase penalties for child sex trafficking, but held a series of borrowing measures for housing and school infrastructure during dual hearings today to cull the legislative agenda before the end of session in two weeks.

The biannual rite of passage, known as the suspense file, allows leaders of the Democratic-controlled Legislature to consider the potential cost of hundreds of pending bills — and kill some without as much public scrutiny — ahead of looming deadlines for members to take them up on the floor.

The Senate Appropriations Committee announced the fates of 489 bills assessed to have a significant fiscal effect on the state, while its Assembly counterpart sorted through 276 measures, in rapid-fire hearings without any formal debate. Those that survived already cleared their house of origin and now must pass the other chamber before Sept. 14 to move to the governor’s desk.

Supporters had anxiously awaited the outcome of Senate Bill 14, which would reclassify human trafficking of a minor as a serious felony subject to California’s three-strikes law, after progressive Democrats killed it in committee earlier this summer over concerns that it could ensnare victims who were forced to help their traffickers.

When the move set off a political firestorm, Gov. Gavin Newsom and new Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas swiftly intervened to revive the measure. Sen. Shannon Grove, the...

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