WA Lege Day 8: Cracking down on the sex biz that uses minors
OLYMPIA – A bipartisan group of legislators is pushing a dozen bills to combat human trafficking, particularly among teenage runaways they say are lured into prostitution.
Among the targets of the legislation are ads for “escort services” that appear in the back of some newspapers and on the Internet, and foot massagers.
To read more about the bills, or to see a complete list of bill numbers, prime sponsors and topics, go inside the blog
One of the bills proposed Monday contends that minors are being offered as prostitutes in ads that describe them as escorts. Such ads would be evidence of commercial sexual abuse of a minor, a felony, and the company placing or publishing the ad would be required to have proof like a birth certificate or driver’s license that the person in the ad is an adult.
Under a separate bill, sex abuse of a minor would come under the state’s criminal profiteering statutes, which would increase penalties and allow courts to assess civil damages, said Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, the bill’s prime sponsor.
Another bill would make it a felony for someone to promote sex with a minor by printing or posting on the Internet a sexually explicit photo or video of him or her. Others would allow the state to seize property from any company involved in the sexual abuse of minors, crack down on gang activity that involves prostitution of minors and increase penalties for using a mentally disabled person in prostitution.
“We want to put a stop to what’s happening all across the state,” said Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn. That involves closing loopholes in existing state laws that allow Washington to be one of the worst places for runaways and other minors to be recruited, groomed and sold into prostitution, she said.
Another loophole the group wants to close is in state licensing regarding foot massages, Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, said. The state currently requires licenses for massage therapists, but exempts reflexologists who do foot massages.
Without Department of Health licensing and oversight, “foot massage” parlors are springing up all over the state at “storefronts that are a gateway to human trafficking,” Keiser said.
Most of the bills were referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has Kline as its chairman. A pair of bills on foot massage were sent to the Health and Long Term Care Committee, which has Keiser as its chairwoman.
- SB 6251: Regulating advertising of commercial sexual abuse of a minor. (Sens.Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, Jerome Delvin, R-Richland)
- SB 6252: Addressing commercial sexual abuse of a minor and promoting prostitution in the first degree. (Sens. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, Joseph Zarelli, R-Ridgefield)
- SB 6253: Concerning seizure and forfeiture of property in commercial sexual abuse of a minor and promoting prostitution in the first degree crimes. (Sens. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, Adam Kline, D- Seattle)
- SB 6254: Compelling a person with a mental disability to engage in prostitution is promoting prostitution in the 1st degree, even absent the use of force. (Sens. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam)
- SB 6255: Vacating sentences for underage victims (Sens. Karen Fraser, D-Olympia, Adam Kline, D- Seattle)
- SB 6256: Adding commercial sexual abuse of a minor to the list of criminal street gang-related offenses. (Sens. Steve Conway, D-South Tacoma, Jerome Delvin, R-Richland)
- SB 6257: Addressing sexually explicit performance. (Sens. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, Steve Conway, D-South Tacoma)
- SB 6258: Concerning unaccompanied persons. (Sens. Val Stevens, R-Arlington, Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood)
- SB 6259: Addressing restitution for human trafficking and prostitution. (Sens. Paull Shin, D-Edmonds, Adam Kline, D-Seattle)
- SB 6260: Revising registration requirements and fees charged for various criminal offenses. (Sens. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle)
- SB 6103: Removing the practice of reflexology from the exemptions from licensure for massage or massage therapy. (Sens. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, Karen Fraser, D-Olympia)
- SB 6104: Granting authority to the secretary of health to conduct inspections of massage business establishments. (Sens. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, Karen Fraser, D-Olympia)
