The next chapter in San Francisco’s attempts to decriminalize prostitution. Read the whole story at SFGate.com…

Prostitution measure makes in onto S.F. ballot

A measure that would make it more difficult to investigate and punish prostitution crimes in San Francisco qualified for the November ballot on Friday, opening another passage in the city’s long fight over decriminalizing the sex-trade industry.

Proponents of the measure were able to collect more than 12,000 signatures, including those from three members of the Board of Supervisors, to put it on the ballot, according to the Erotic Service Providers Union, the labor group backing the measure. The same group was unsuccessful in putting a similar measure on the ballot in 2006.

The measure would end San Francisco’s First Offender Prostitution Program for men who have been arrested for soliciting a prostitute. Men who go to “john school,” which was created in 1996, pay $1,000 and attend a class on prostitution in exchange for the district attorney’s office dropping the misdemeanor charge against them.

Mayor Gavin Newsom this week said the measure would severely hamper the city’s ability to investigate and prosecute sex-trafficking cases. According to the measure’s wording, it would prohibit the city from spending money on sex-traffic investigations that involve racial profiling.