“I don’t hear the support from my colleagues,” says Councilmember Charles Allen, who chairs the committee on public safety.

The hearing went on for more than 14 hours.

The bill would “remove certain criminal penalties for engaging in sex work in order to promote public health and safety.”

“The reason I want to do it in a nutshell is I do not think the criminalization of sex workers has worked for the District of Columbia,” says At-large Councilmember David Grosso.

In total, there’s been a decrease in the number of prostitution-related arrests overall year-to-date than in 2016.