California lawmakers are finally sending to Gov. Gavin Newsom a hot potato of a bill that would bar police from making arrests on a charge of loitering for prostitution, nine months after the measure passed the Legislature.
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers are finally sending to Gov. Gavin Newsom a hot potato of a bill that would bar police from making arrests on a charge of loitering for prostitution, nine months after the measure passed the Legislature, the author of the bill announced Monday.
"This bill seems to be perfect if you want sex trafficking to even increase in California," he said."This bill is really going to affect poor neighborhoods — it's not going to affect neighborhoods where these legislators live." He wanted time, Wiener said then,"to make the case about why this civil rights bill is good policy ... and why this discriminatory loitering crime goes against California values."
Newsom, a Democrat running for reelection after easily beating back a recall last year, has said more needs to be done to address homelessness and shoplifting. Newsom's spokespeople did not immediately comment on Wiener's bill. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the nation's largest such agency, and the 75,000-member Peace Officers Research Association of California are among the opponents. Both say repealing it will hinder the prosecution of those who commit crimes related to prostitution and human trafficking and make it harder to identify and assist those being victimized.