NON-ENFORCEMENT OF PROSTITUTION LAWS AND PROTECTION OF SEX WORKERS; ORDINANCE

State and local law prohibition prostitution Section 653.22 of the California Penal Code makes it unlawful for any person to engage in prostitution. Section 240 of the San Francisco Police Code makes it a misdemeanor for any person to commit any act of prostitution.

In 1994, the Board of Supervisors established the 28-member San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution to investigate prostitution patterns and practices in the City and to recommend social and legal reforms. In 1996, the task force issued a report making various recommendations, including a recommendation that City departments stop enforcing and prosecuting prostitution crimes and focus instead on neighborhood complaints about quality of life issues. It also recommended that funds be reallocated towards services for those involved in prostitution instead of incarceration.

The City currently operates a First Offender Prostitution Program. The purpose of this program is to prevent sexual exploitation and violence against prostitutes _by providing educational and other social support services to first-time offenders. Various City departments participate, including the Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the Department of Public Health, the Probation Department, and the Sheriffs Office.

The proposed ordinance would restrict the City from allocating resources for the investigation and prosecution of prostitutes, and from supporting the First Offender Prostitution Program or similar programs that include sex-worker education programs. It would also prohibit the City's law enforcement agencies from applying for state or federal funds for programs that require the use of racial profiling to identify sex-trafficked victims, and would require the City to reallocate existing funds for such purposes towards implementation of the 1996 Report of the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution.

The proposed ordinance would require the Police Department and the District Attorney to consistently and rigorously prosecute certain violent crimes against sex workers. It would also require these agencies to fully disclose the investigation and prosecution of rape, extortion, and sexual assault and battery against sex workers.
The Board of Supervisors could amend this ordinance under certain circumstances without voter approval.

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