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Motion to ask state to repeal SB 357 fails after heated public comment
Summary
Supervisor Desmond moved that the board ask the state to repeal 2023’s SB 357—arguing it hamstrings officers investigating suspected trafficking—but the motion failed for lack of a second after extensive public testimony for and against. Several survivors and law-enforcement advocates gave contrasting views.
Supervisor Desmond urged the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to ask the state to repeal Senate Bill 357, which took effect in 2023 and removed a penal-code prohibition on loitering with intent to engage in prostitution. Desmond told the board that the change "tied the hands of our law enforcement officers" and said it had allowed traffickers and buyers to operate "in plain sight." He cited local enforcement actions—"Operation Home for the Holidays," where staff offered services to 19 people and made 10 arrests, and a separate operation called "Stand on Demand" that he said resulted in about 120 arrests—and said the county faces "about 8,000 victims of human trafficking per year" with an average victim age of 16.
The board took public comment from more than a dozen speakers and callers. Several speakers represented law-enforcement or anti-trafficking groups and echoed Desmond’s view that SB 357 reduced early intervention opportunities. A caller identifying with San Diego Protect said the law limited early intervention and allowed networks to operate more freely in public spaces. In contrast, a person who identified herself as a survivor (identified in the transcript as Caitlin Rad) told the board: "If we bring back loitering laws, we're not making communities safer. We're criminalizing the most vulnerable populations," adding that she had experienced harassment and, at times, abuse by officers.
Other in-person commentators included Mark, who said he supported the repeal to allow officers to "contact child prostitutes and help them," and Alicia Morrison, who urged that efforts also address California Penal Code section 314 (indecent exposure). Several phone callers made broad allegations about agencies and officials; those remarks are presented here as the speakers’ assertions and were not corroborated in the meeting record.
During board discussion the vice chair noted the board had previously supported Assembly Bill 379, the Survivor Support and Demand Reduction Act, which makes loitering to purchase a commercial sex act a misdemeanor and created a survivor support fund. A supervisor who identified themselves in the transcript as Chairperson McGuire said AB 379 focuses enforcement on buyers and traffickers without criminalizing victims and reminded the board that it does not have the authority to repeal a state Senate bill. After debate, Supervisor Desmond made the motion to seek repeal of SB 357 but the motion did not receive a second and the chair declared it failed for lack of a second.
What happens next: the board took no formal action to pursue repeal of SB 357. The record reflects opposing views from law-enforcement-aligned commenters who argued the repeal would restore investigative tools and from survivors and advocates who warned a return to loitering offenses could criminalize vulnerable people. The board’s prior support for AB 379 was cited by members as addressing some of the concerns raised in the discussion.
