Committee continues vote on expanding First Offender Prostitution Program fee to allow broader fee collection

The Budget and Finance Committee continued consideration of an ordinance that would amend a fee ordinance for the city—s First Offender Prostitution Program so the Office of the District Attorney can refer all eligible prostitution-related offenders to the diversion class and collect the program fee from all participants.

A representative of the mayor—s office explained the amendment would remove a limiting reference to Penal Code section 647(b) so that fees could be collected from all participants in the program rather than only from those arrested under that subsection. The presenter said the fee is $650 per client and that, applied retrospectively to last year—s caseload, an additional 64 individuals would have raised about $41,600 for the fund. The budget analyst said any revenue projections depend on police enforcement activity and that a formal analyst report would be provided when the item is continued.

Committee members asked what services funded by the fee would support; the presenter said fees historically have supported police decoy operations and referrals to service providers such as Sage, and said the city would continue those referrals though specifics were not provided.

After brief public comment the committee agreed to continue the item to the June 27 hearing so the district attorney could participate; the motion to continue (recorded in the transcript as made by Supervisor Defty and seconded by Supervisor Ellsworth) carried without objection.