Bill to repeal anti-loitering law goes to Newsom
get rid of a law that targets our community,” Wiener said in a statement. “Pride isn’t just about rainbow flags and parades. It’s about protecting the most marginalized in our community.”
But support for the bill, even among Democrats, was never unanimous. Some members of the more moderate wing of the Democratic caucus joined Republicans in either voting against the bill or withholding their votes.
The Senate approved SB 357 with several votes to spare, but the bill passed the Assembly with only one vote more than needed.
One of the main concerns raised during legislative debate was whether the measure would hinder law enforcement from protecting victims of sex trafficking.
In a statement to the state Senate, the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department said the section of California’s penal code that SB 357 would eliminate is used to “target sex buyers who seek to exploit.”
“While the intent of this legislation is to protect the prosecution of a vulnerable community, the unintended consequences will be to benefit the sex buyers as well,” the sheriff’s department wrote.
Vanessa Russell, founder of Love Never Fails, a Bay Area organization that works with trafficking survivors, shares similar concerns.
Russell said the bill is a first step toward full legalization of prostitution and rejected the idea that decriminalizing loitering would make conditions safer for women.
“Removing the police is not going to reduce harm. It’s going to create more harm, because you haven’t [held] the buyers and exploiters accountable, so you are going to increase demand,” she said.
Russell proposed a legislative blueprint called Pathways to Safety, which calls for policy solutions to prevent sex trafficking and provide victims with resources for recovery.
She said lawmakers should use those recommendations to assist women who are looking to exit sex work and victims who were trafficked into it. That should include providing mental health and housing services, along with job training opportunities, she said.
Russell also wants to see the development of a mandatory diversion program for people who buy sex and for pimps to learn “the consequences of what they’re doing.” Participants would have to pay for the program themselves, and the money would go to victims.
Sending SB 357 marks the near end to a yearlong battle over how to address an area of California law that has divided advocates across the spectrum.
The nine-month delay reflects how emotionally intense the topic often became in the Legislature; it also provided the opportunity for all sides to lobby the governor’s office.
Tony Hoang, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality California, said the legislation repeals a law that “has been used to target, harass and arrest transgender and gender-nonconforming people simply for existing in public spaces.”
Equality California is a co-sponsor of SB 357, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of California and other civil rights groups.
“We all deserve to live in public peacefully without fear of arrest,” Hoang said. “California has the opportunity to boldly stand on the side of justice and improve public safety.”