| Three new California bills, AB 2034, AB 2646 and SB 1219 aim to re-criminalize loitering for the purposes of prostitution. This is a very harmful move as criminalization undermines sex workers’ safety and puts them at greater risk of rape and other violence. SB 1219 will be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee April 2, 2024. Due to public pressure, AB 2034 was pulled by the author and was not heard in committee. Both SB 1219 and AB 2646 would re-criminalize standing in a public place for anyone police suspect is loitering for prostitution. In addition to criminalizing sex workers, SB 1219 would criminalize clients for soliciting for prostitution and authorizes the court to suspend driver’s licenses and impound cars. See below how to take action! The loitering law (Penal Code Section 653.22) was repealed in 2022 following decades of organizing by the grassroots sex worker rights movement in California, which pointed in particular to sexist, racist and transphobic enforcement.[i] Commonly known as the “walking while trans” law, it also targeted and criminalized legal activities like walking, or standing in public or simply for “appearing to be a sex worker.” The law was vague, giving police enormous discretionary power, resulting in abuse, human rights violations, and illegality by police. Enforcement of the loitering for prostitution law has historically been racially discriminatory and there is nothing to suggest that these bills will be enforced differently. They would therefore violate the 2020 Racial Justice Act, which makes it illegal to pass legislation that is biased. Based on this act, these bills should be dismissed. Recriminalizing loitering will mean that sex workers who are trying to avoid arrest will be displaced into more isolated and dangerous areas. Women will be more vulnerable to violence and exploitation as a result. The proponents of these bills falsely claim that they are needed so that law enforcement can identify victims of trafficking. Evidence[ii] shows that the opposite is true and that “law enforcement trafficking operations identify few trafficking victims; primarily target sex work; too often treat victims—particularly Black victims–as criminals.” The same evidence reports sexual and other abuse by law enforcement during anti-trafficking operations, which are violent and traumatizing, especially for women of color. It cannot be right for these bills to give the police more powers when they are abusing the powers they already have. Prostitution is increasing because poverty and homelessness are rising. Most sex workers are mothers working to make ends meet and feed their children. Criminal records make it harder for us to keep custody of our children, leave prostitution and get other jobs. Legislators who claim to want to reduce prostitution should focus on policies to address women’s poverty like expanded child tax credits, a guaranteed care income for single mothers, housing vouchers, etc. and other ways to protect women, including the decriminalization of sex work. SB 2019 is scheduled for a hearing with the Senate Public Safety Committee on April 2nd. Please urgently email and/or call the members of the Committee to tell them to vote against reinstating this sexist, racist, transphobic bill. Here are the names and contact information for the Senate Public Safety committee members. See a sample letter below these names. You can submit a letter to the entire Senate Public Safety Committee by using its Advocacy Portal, where you will have to register. To contact the Senate Public Safety Committee members directly, use their contact information below: Aisha Wahab (D-10) Committee Chair 916-651-4410 510-794-3900 Email form Kelly Seyarto (R-32) Committee Vice Chair 916-651-4032 951-894-2220 951-280-1260 760-422-6684 Email form Steven Bradford (D-35) 916-651-4035 310-412-6120 310-514-8573 Email form Nancy Skinner (D-09) 916-651-4009 510-296-1333 Email form Scott Wiener (D-11) 916-651-4011 415-557-1300 Email form Background ● About 70% of sex workers are mothers, mostly single mothers, trying to feed themselves and their children. The rise in prostitution is because of increasing poverty, homelessness and income inequality. In California, 20 million residents are poor or low income, including 54% of women (10.7 million), 61% of Black people and 71% of Latinx people. (Poor People’s Campaign). ● Enforcement of the loitering bill was proven to be racist. Even Governor Newsom pointed this out when he signed the bill to repeal loitering for prostitution. He noted that “between 2017 and 2019 Black adults accounted for 56.1% of the loitering charges in Los Angeles, despite making up less than 10% of the city’s population.” ● These loitering bills are part of a backlash in California against the gains made by the sex worker movement. In response, some politicians, law enforcement and advocates for gentrification want to re-criminalize communities of color under the guise of anti-trafficking. For example, in San Francisco, barricades have been installed in the Mission district to push sex workers off streets and to criminalize clients. In Los Angeles, the City Attorney is attempting to eradicate prostitution in the Figueroa corridor by invoking archaic laws and involving the FBI and Homeland Security in undercover operations targeting sex workers. |
Sample letter to Senate Public Safety Committee members Dear (Put in name)I am writing to register my strong opposition to SB 2019, the bill to reinstate loitering for the purposes of prostitution. This is a very harmful move as criminalization undermines sex workers’ safety Recriminalizing loitering will mean that sex workers who are trying to avoid arrest will be displaced into more isolated and dangerous areas. Women will be more vulnerable to violence and exploitation as a result. Loitering for prostitution was repealed in 2022 because it was enforced in a discriminatory way, disproportionately impacting Black and Brown women, especially trans women. The law was vague and gave police enormous discretionary power, which resulted in abuse, human rights violations, and illegality. I do not accept the rational of SB 2019 proponents that this bill will help to identify victims of trafficking. In fact, the evidence shows that anti-trafficking operations primarily target sex work and treat victims—especially Black women—as criminals. These operations are violent and traumatizing and few actually identify any victims. Increasing police powers, as SB 2019 does, has historically made sex workers more unsafe. Legislators should instead focus on policies to address poverty. Most sex workers are mothers working to support families; the most effective strategy to protect sex workers is to reduce women’s poverty. Sincerely, |
From: US PROStitutes Collective www.uspros.net, Global Women’s Strike, Women of Color/GWS |
[i] Between 2017 and 2019 Black adults accounted for 56.1% of the loitering charges in Los Angeles, despite making up less than 10% of the city’s population.
[ii] Report by the USC Gould International Human Rights Clinic.
US PROS Collective 