Rev. Shane Harris sees success as he continues effort to improve controversial SB 357

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – About a month ago, a coalition of anti-human trafficking advocates joined forces urging Governor Gavin Newsom and California state leaders to repeal Senate Bill 357.

Authored by California State Senator Scott Wiener, SB 357 essentially makes “loitering with intent to sell sex” legal. Wiener seems to only author bills about sex, but this specific legislation is making him the target of fierce bipartisan opposition.

The coalition was led by National Civil Rights leader and President of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates, Rev. Shane Harris, who has stood his ground against political attacks from members of his own party. Harris has been adamant about his beliefs that SB 357 hurts children, promising to take on “civil rights colleagues or a democratic supermajority.”

A month after Harris’ big press conference, and he is already seeing results.

This week, Harris will propose a new state law “that would fix some of the inconsistencies of SB 357,” hoping to getting a legislator to pick up his proposal to begin the legal process.

The proposal Harris has worked with anti human trafficking advocates, lived experienced individuals and organizations on is titled as the “;Law Enforcement Child Exploitation & Trafficking Intervention Act” and it seeks to do the following:

A. Mandates that all law enforcement, probation, and child welfare staff statewide receive a mandatory CSEC training. CSEC stands for The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. The training is currently offered but not a mandatory requirement for officials and Harris believes that this will help to deal with concerns around how victims are approached by law enforcement.

B. Reestablishes law enforcement’s ability to stop ‘victims’ following the CSEC protocols to interview and investigate if they are a victim of trafficking, find out if they are a minor and offer wrap-around support.

C. Increases financial penalties for “Johns” which will also help the state fund the statewide CSEC training for law enforcement, probation and child welfare.

Rev. Shane Harris joined KUSI’s Allie Wagner on Good Morning San Diego to detail his efforts and share more about the changes to SB 357 he is hoping to make law.

EARLIER STORY: Anti-human trafficking advocates call for repeal of California’s SB 357