Sex Work and Trafficking Policy Impact Committee Meeting

July 23, 2018   11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Department on the Status of Women

25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 330a, San Francisco, CA

 

Kaytlin Bailey, The Oldest Profession Podcast

Erica Berman, Whores Bath

Alex Binsfeld, Transgender Law Center

Saerom Choi, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach

Dick Cunningham, National Coalition for Sexual Freedom

Cristy Dietrich, Newcomer’s Connect

Kate D’Adamo, Reframe Health and Justice

Mira Fey, US Pros

Judy Guerin, National Coalition for Sexual Freedom

Tracy Hayes, Independent/Legislation Project

Arlene Houle

Minouche Kandel, Department on the Status of Women

Emi Koyama, Coalition for Rights and Safety for People in the Sex Trade

Lorelai Lee

Carol Leigh, BAYSWAN

Alix Lutnick, RTI International

Anita O’Shen, St James Infirmary

Kyoko Peterson, Department on the Status of Women

Mark Press

Kimberly Rodriguez, District Attorney Victim Services

Giovanna Ramos, District Attorney Victim Services

Leah Shoecraft, St James Infirmary

Savannah Siy, Sex Workers Outreach Project - Seattle

Rachel West, In Defense of Prostitute’s Women Safety Project

Iris Zhu, Newcomer Connect

 

I.Introductions/Check In

2. Identifying Committee Co-Chairs

Saerom Choi is currently the Co-Chair of the Committee and is still looking for another Co-Chair. People can contact her over email if they are interested—especially encourage those with lived experience or service provider experience.

 

 

 

3. Prioritizing Safety for Sex Workers Policy Outreach/Training Update
   1. Intro: Introduction to the policy given for the new people in the meeting. Policy was initiated by community response to event held at the library a few years ago on Ending Demand. Discussion of the history of the policy and process of getting it approved.
   2. Community response: Discussion of the community response to this new policy. Someone commented that they feel that the significance of this policy is being minimized and that more outreach is needed. It was suggested that committee members get feedback from the community and bring that feedback to next committee meeting.
   3. Outreach to government: Some members were interested in outreach to the Mayor’s Office related to the new policy. Saerom agreed to put together a timeline on reaching out.
   4. Training: Minouche talked about possibility of working with the Police Department video production unit on a video training for police officers and the District Attorney’s office. This would require a script.  There is a small working group that has met on this, but it would also be helpful to have input from someone with video script writing experience.

 

4. Update on AB2243
   1. The passing of the Prioritizing Safety for Sex Workers policy in San Francisco led to the passing of a similar bill statewide, AB 2243, sponsored by Assembly Member Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) in Southern California.  The difference between AB 2243 and the San Francisco policy is that the statewide bill does not prevent arrest.

 

5. Police Report Research Update
   1. Main Findings: alix summarized the main findings from her research project. She has been analyzing 960 reports from the Police Department regarding prostitution and human trafficking. This project was initiated by conflicting statements from police and community members about arrests for prostitution, as well as a desire to understand how shifting responsibilities from the Vice Unit to the Special Victims Unit has changed trends. She will circulate a detailed write-up of the findings when they are ready.  
   2. Human Trafficking Screening Form: One of the issues with the Police Department has been trying to figure out what criteria they use to categorize a case as a human trafficking case.  Alix was able to get the human trafficking screening form currently by the police department. The following people volunteered to be part of a workgroup give feedback on the screening form: Minouche Kandel, Cristy Dietrich, Saerom Choi, Alix Lutnick, Dongmei Tan, and Arlene Houle.

 

6. FOSTA
   1. The committee reviewed the position paper on FOSTA that alix drafted.  There was concern raised about the language that supports the prosecution of sex traffickers—members felt that this was already implied and not necessary to include.  This language will be removed.  There was consensus from the Committee to support the position paper. alix will make suggested changes, and Saerom Choi will present the paper at the General Task Force meeting in August. The paper will be presented as the work of the committee in general.

 

7. Coalition for Rights and Safety – Emi
   1. Emi Koyama is with the Coalition for Rights and Safety for People in the Sex Trade, which is in Seattle. The coalition was formed to advocate for policy in Washington and they work with a broad range of organizations. Emi discussed the local and state initiatives their coalition has been working on and progress on sex worker rights in Seattle. The coalition has been working on a survey of sex workers, particularly transgender and gender-diverse sex workers, to get feedback on how FOSTA/SESTA is affecting their lives. So far they have found that their results mirror results found in a national survey done by COYOTE Rhode Island.

 

8. Next Meeting: October 22, 2018, 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 240, San Francisco

 

Action Item	Person Responsible	Timeline
Recruit co-chair for committee	Interested individuals can email Saerom Choi	TBD
Convene screening form work group	Minouche will email those who volunteered	TBD
Make suggested changes to FOSTA paper	alix lutnick	Before August 22nd
Present FOSTA paper at August general meeting	Saerom Choi	August 22nd
Develop timeline on outreach to Mayor’s Office on Work of the Committee	Saerom Choi	TBD