Existing law criminalizes various aspects of sex work, including soliciting anyone to engage in, or engaging in, lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, or maintaining a public nuisance. Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act (CUCSA), also criminalizes various offenses relating to the possession, transportation, and sale of specified controlled substances.

This bill would prohibit the arrest of a person for a misdemeanor violation of the CUCSA or specified sex work crimes, if that person is reporting that they are a victim of, or a witness to, specified crimes. The bill would also state that possession of condoms in any amount does not provide a basis for probable cause for arrest for specified sex work crimes.

Existing law specifies a procedure by which condoms may be introduced as evidence in a prosecution for various crimes, including soliciting or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, soliciting or engaging in acts of prostitution, loitering in or about a toilet open to the public for the purpose of engaging in or soliciting a lewd, lascivious, or unlawful act, or loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution.

This bill, instead, would prohibit introducing the possession of a condom as evidence in the prosecution of a violation of soliciting or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, soliciting or engaging in acts of prostitution, loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, or for maintaining a public nuisance, if the offense is related to an act of prostitution.

This bill would make other conforming changes.

The California Constitution includes the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a 2/ 3 vote of the Legislature to pass a bill that would exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified.