The San Diego City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted 3-0 on Thursday to endorse Assembly Bill 3024 to stop the distribution of antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ hate flyers.
The Stop Hate Littering Act, written by state Assemblymember Chris Ward and co-sponsored by Councilmember Raul Campillo, is a response to flyers which have appeared in many San Diego neighborhoods over the past year.
The full City Council will vote on endorsing the law in the coming weeks.
“Hate has no place in San Diego,” said Campillo. “AB 3024 will help keep our communities safe from hateful and terrorizing speech by imposing large fines on those who intend to spread these sorts of flyers and providing targeted communities with legal remedies to enact justice.”
In 2023, Councilmember Campillo’s District was targeted with antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ flyers that were left in residents’ driveways, lawns, and on their windshields. To date, none of the perpetrators have been cited or arrested.
“San Diego has seen anti-LGBTQ+ flyers distributed widely with the intent of intimidating and threatening the LGBTQ+ community,” said Cara Dessert, CEO of the San Diego LGBT Community Center. “We wholeheartedly support AB 3024, which would deter hateful actors from this kind of flyering.”
On April 2, AB 3024 passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Currently, it is awaiting a vote by the whole Assembly. At that point, it will need to pass the State Senate and then be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Corrected 8 p.m. April 27, 2024 to reflect that it was a City Council committee that took action, not a county council.