San Francisco: Massage Parlor Regulation

SAN FRANCISCO--Opening a new massage parlor in San Francisco will require public hearings and a permit from the city's Planning Commission under an ordinance approved by the Board of Supervisors in an initial vote Tuesday.

The law is intended to weed out spas that serve as fronts for brothels and is an effort by city leaders to curb the illegal sex trade in San Francisco, part of a growing $8 billion international sex trafficking industry.

The Board, which voted 9-1 in favor of the law, is scheduled to take a final vote next week.

"This will make it harder for sex trafficking to come here to San Francisco. ... It will protect women in that San Francisco will not be a viable alternative for trafficking," Supervisor Fiona Ma said after the vote.

Ma, who was on Tuesday's ballot as a candidate for state Assembly, introduced the legislation shortly after federal agents raided 10 Asian massage parlors in San Francisco in the summer of 2005. During the raid, federal agents arrested 29 people for alleged ties to a South Korean sex trafficking ring and removed 104 Korean masseuses in California's largest sex trafficking bust.

Read the full article at SFGate.com