Supervisor wants to outlaw sex in massage parlors - San Francisco Chronicle (blog)

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Supervisor Katy Tang is taking another crack at the brothels that operate as city-licensed massage parlors, saying legislation she helped craft four years ago as a legislative aide isn’t doing enough to stop prostitution and human trafficking.
Tang’s proposal, introduced Tuesday, would spell out penalties, including fines and permit revocations, for specific violations — and it would explicitly prohibit sexual activity at massage parlors. Seems obvious, but Tang said it isn’t.
Take a recent situation, in which Health Department officials walked in on a masseuse engaging in sexual intercourse with a client. Because the police department didn’t cite her for prostitution, the Board of Appeals threw out her violation, reversing a 60-day suspension that had been imposed by the Department of Public Health at a director’s hearing. She still had to pay a $500 fine — but for “inappropriate attire.â€
Tang said the new legislation seeks to go after brothel owners, not individual masseuses, by stipulating that the owners must pay any fines, and requiring that the property owners are also notified when a violation occurs. The legislation would also require masseuses to wear a photo ID while they are working; in addition to sexual acts, the proposal explicitly bans alcohol and drug use at massage parlors.
“This legislation is one piece of many different things we are trying to address the issues of human trafficking in the city,†she said, adding that a survey by her office found there are 30 massage parlors in her district alone.
Prostitution at massage parlors has been an issue for years. Tang worked on previous legislation when she was an aide to former Supervisor Carmen Chu, who is now the city’s assessor-recorder.