Dear California State Senate Public Safety Committee:

We are writing in opposition to SB 1027, the California Street Prostitution Issues and Options Task Force. First of all, we are very concerned that the composition of the proposed task force is not at all representative. There are no representatives in this proposed task force who are sex workers or representatives of sex worker–run organizations. This task force is primarily made up of government and law enforcement and law enforcement has historically opposed sex worker rights and all too often treats sex workers in a discriminatory way. In addition, task force members are not required to have experience with or knowledge of street prostitution issues.

As the stated purpose of the task force is to collect and analyse data, assess enforcement of laws, review legislation, and make recommendations for change, it is especially important that the task force be representative and include people who are most impacted by these policies. Without the meaningful inclusion of current sex workers and sex worker–led organizations, any findings or recommendations will lack credibility, accuracy, and fairness.

In contrast, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Task Force on Prostitution, of which the US PROStitutes Collective was a member, was ground-breaking and unique in that it included sex workers. Most importantly, the lived experience of sex workers was central to its process. In addition to three representatives who were sex workers, this task force included a broad cross section of impacted community groups, including AIDS, Black, immigrant rights, health, transgender, and youth organizations. Representatives from the City were also included in this 30-member task force.

The San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution was one of the most important and historic community consultations on prostitution in California or elsewhere. After two years of intense debate, public hearings, committee reports, and expert testimony, the task force presented comprehensive recommendations to the City of San Francisco, including a recommendation to decriminalize sex work. We encourage you to read the report. It demonstrates the effectiveness of an inclusive task force.

In contrast, SB 1027 conflates prostitution with trafficking, which is a serious and fundamental flaw. Treating these as the same issue distorts both data collection and policy outcomes. If the task force proceeds from this conflation, its analysis and recommendations will be inherently biased and misleading. This inevitably leads to increased law enforcement against street prostitution under the guise of addressing trafficking, and actual reports of violence, including trafficking, are then deprioritized.

The composition of this task force will also likely result in increased law enforcement and more penalties against street prostitution. Millions of dollars are already spent every year arresting and jailing street workers and suspected clients. This does not decrease sex work, but instead pushes sex workers into more isolated and dangerous areas, making them more vulnerable to violence. In addition, laws against street prostitution have historically been enforced in a racist and sexist way, targeting women of color, including trans women, for arrest. A massive nationwide campaign led by sex workers, most visibly trans women of color, succeeded in getting the loitering for prostitution laws repealed in California, New York and the city of Seattle after they were proven to being implemented in a sexist, racist, transphobic way. 

A new and different approach is needed. More criminalization is not the answer to street prostitution because poverty is the problem. Attacking poverty—not women—is the solution. Most sex workers are mothers, and single mothers are the fastest growing population of those imprisoned. The high cost of living and cuts in benefits are driving more women—particularly single mothers, often women of color and immigrant women—into sex work to support their children and meet basic needs.

A Guaranteed Care Income pilot our organization sponsored showed that when low-income single mothers were financially supported for their caregiving work as mothers, they were able to leave prostitution, if they chose to.

SB 1027 represents outdated thinking. Just this year, Colorado introduced a bill to decriminalize sex work. In addition, many prominent organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch, call for the decriminalization of prostitution. In 2023, the United Nations called for the decriminalization of sex work to protect womens’ rights.

We urge you not to advance this bill. Its unrepresentative task force is likely to ensure an outcome that will not benefit the people who will be most impacted—and harmed—by its recommendations but lend even more power merely to law enforcement. 

Sincerely, Rachel West, US PROStitutes Collective