Bill that would allow SFPD to crack down on illegal vending passes 1st committee meeting

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Senate Bill 276 passed its first committee meeting, which now opens the doors for more conversations about San Francisco police officers having the authority to cite people for selling stolen items. This is something they can't do right now.

San Francisco's Mission Street has become one of the city's hotspots for illegal vending operations and open-air drug use.

"It's still out of control," said Rodrigo Lopez, president of the Mission Street Vendors Association.

We went to 16th Street, where the city's police department recently stationed a mobile command unit that placed officers in the area 24/7. It's been over a week of this. We asked if Lopez has noticed any change.

"They help a lot. You can see it looks a little bit different right now, but it doesn't really fix the whole issue. They fixed maybe 60% of the illegal vending, but there is still a lot to do," Lopez said.

RELATED: California bill aims to crack down on illegal street vending in San Francisco

That's because SFPD's ability to tackle illegal vending is limited by law.

"Seven years ago, we passed a state law that provided that street vending enforcement should be done administratively, not by the police. In San Francisco, that is the Department of Public Works," said Senator Scott Wiener. "But what that law did not anticipate was the rise of selling stolen goods on the streets, which has been a growing problem in San Francisco, and so it limits the ability of our police."

Wiener is trying to amend this with SB 276.

"We are making a small adjustment, only for San Francisco to say that the Board of Supervisors will create a list of commonly stolen goods. We are talking about the deodorant from Walgreens -- that is almost certainly a stolen good," said Wiener. "If someone is on the street selling these commonly stolen goods without a permit and without receipts to show that they paid for it, the police can cite them, and the third citation will be a misdemeanor."

MORE: SF's drug crackdown in target areas causing problem to spill into other neighborhoods

On Wednesday, the senate's local government committee unanimously approved a change to the current law. It's a change that's giving other areas in the city hope.

"It is going to pretty much cut off a lot of the shoplifting, which has really tormented San Francisco neighborhoods," said Randy Shaw, director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.

Shaw believes this state law will be key to help San Francisco streets giving police the authority to act.

"People steal the stuff at Walgreens or CVS and then sell it and use the money for drugs. If we want to cut off retail thefts and cut off street drug use, you got to cut off illegal vending," Shaw said.

SB 276 still needs to be approved by two more committees and then head to the senate floor. Senator Wiener is hopeful it will reach the last committee meeting in the assembly in June.