San Diego leaders hail new law targeting buyers soliciting sex from minors

People who solicit sex from minors are looking at felony charges with a new law going into effect Jan. 1.

San Diego leaders on Wednesday hailed the new law under Assembly Bill 379. Co-sponsors of the bill include Mayor Todd Gloria and District Attorney Summer Stephan.

“This law will be a game changer and will allow police and prosecutors to do our jobs of protecting the most vulnerable,” Stephan told reporters at a news conference at San Diego police headquarters in downtown San Diego.

She was joined by Gloria and Police Chief Scott Wahl, who said his department will be implementing the law “effective immediately” Thursday. “We are allocating more officers and detectives toward addressing this issue specifically,” Wahl said, noting that the response will include undercover operations.

“Bottom line is this: San Diego is not a place to traffic in children,” Gloria said. “And if you do it, you’re going to have a police department that’s going to arrest you. You’re going to have a DA that’s going to prosecute you.”

The new law includes a handful of facets addressing trafficking, but among the more notable changes is the increased penalty from a misdemeanor to a felony charge for people caught soliciting commercial sex from anyone under 18 years old.

“So anyone out there who thinks that they’re going to get a citation or misdemeanor for buying a 17-year-old, a 16-year-old, a 15-year-old, think again,” Stephan said. “Get it through your skull that you will face a felony charge.”

The new law also creates a fund to support sex trafficking victims using fines collected from people caught buying commercial sex.

Stephan said that in 2025, local authorities recovered 126 sex trafficking victims, nearly half of whom — 62 — were minors, including a 12-year-old and four 13-year-olds. It’s an increase from the prior year, when local authorities rescued 47 minors.

She said sex-trafficking victims “begin their journey in victimization at an average age of 15, 16, so even the adults that we encounter, they were children when they started, and they also deserve our protection.”

The law also makes it a misdemeanor for anyone caught loitering with the intent to solicit prostitution. That means police can intervene, say, when they see someone circling the block on streets known for prostitution, spots often known by slang terms such as the blade or the track.

The new law “allows us to act against the demand, against the lines of cars that go to pick up human beings that are half-dressed, as if they are a slice of pizza or it’s a hamburger stand,” the district attorney said.

Wahl said that in terms of combating loitering to purchase commercial sex, police “really have very limited ability to do anything about it.”

“We’ve tried all kinds of methods that have been largely ineffective,” he said. “We put lighting out. We’ve put just a high presence of our police officers driving through, and it doesn’t deter because they knew there was no consequences.”

In addition, AB 379 bumps civil penalties for hotels that cover up human trafficking activity from $1,000 to $3,000 for a first-time offender. Penalties for a second offense increase from $2,000 to $10,000.