SCS/SB 341 - This act raises the offense of patronizing a prostitute from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony when the individual who the offender patronizes is less than eighteen but more than fourteen years of age, and raises the offense of patronizing a prostitute from a Class E felony to a Class D felony when the individual who the offender patronizes is fourteen years of age or younger. The act requires any person convicted of patronizing a prostitute, when the person patronized is under the age of eighteen, to register as a sex offender.
The act also creates a process to expunge the criminal records of persons who have pled guilty to, or been convicted of, the offense of prostitution while under the influence of an agent. The act provides that requests for expungement for the offense of prostitution are not subject to the requirements of most other such requests, including any time requirements or provisions regarding ineligibility in the case of additional subsequent arrests, convictions, or pleas of guilty. The act provides that, upon the determination of the Court that the person was acting under the influence of an agent when he or she committed the offense of prostitution, the person's criminal record relating to the offense of prostitution shall be expunged. This provision is identical to SB 344 (2017).
The act raises the penalty for promoting prostitution of a person under the age of sixteen from a Class B felony to a felony punishable by a term of imprisonment no less than ten years and no more than fifteen years.
The act raises the penalty for promoting prostitution of a person of age sixteen or age seventeen to the offense of second degree prostitution, a Class D felony.
The act is similar to HB 1015 (2017).
JOHN GRANA