Prostitution, pandering, etc.; violation of certain provisions is punishable. (HB2040)
Introduced By
Del. Rob Bell (R-Charlottesville) with support from co-patron Del. David Yancey (R-Newport News)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✓ |
Passed Committee |
✓ |
Passed House |
✓ |
Passed Senate |
✓ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Prostitution; procuring; receiving money; pandering; recruitment; conspiracy; Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; penalty. Increases from a Class 4 felony to a Class 3 felony the penalty for (i) receiving money from the earnings of a prostitute who is a minor; (ii) procuring a minor for prostitution or for engaging in forced labor or services, concubinage, prostitution, or the manufacture of any obscene material or child pornography; or (iii) pandering involving a minor. The bill also criminalizes recruiting a person to engage in prostitution, which is punishable as a Class 6 felony or, if the person recruited is a minor, as a Class 5 felony. If force or a threat of force is used to recruit a person to engage in prostitution, the penalties increase to a Class 4 felony or, if the person recruited is a minor, to a Class 3 felony. The bill also adds transporting a person for purposes of prostitution or unlawful sexual intercourse or for a compelled marriage to the crime of pandering and provides that a person may be guilty of pandering regardless of where a person is taken or transported, instead of only a bawdy place as provided for under current law. The bill adds to the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry all of the crimes described above that involve a minor except for pandering involving a minor, which is already a registrable offense. Finally, the bill adds penalties for conspiracy specific to certain prostitution-related crimes punishable as felonies, the penalties for which vary with the severity of the underlying crime. The bill also adds the new felonies for recruitment and conspiracy as predicate criminal acts under the criminal street gang statute and as racketeering crimes and adds the investigation of the new felonies for recruitment and conspiracy and the existing crimes for pandering, and receiving money from the earnings of a prostitute to the functions of a multijurisdiction grand jury. The bill also allows seizure and forfeiture of property used in committing the new felonies. Read the Bill »
Outcome
History
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 01/14/2015 | Committee |
| 01/14/2015 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/15 15103599D |
| 01/14/2015 | Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice |
| 01/16/2015 | Impact statement from VCSC (HB2040) |
| 01/30/2015 | Assigned Courts sub: Criminal Law |
| 02/02/2015 | Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (9-Y 0-N) |
| 02/02/2015 | Subcommittee recommends referring to Committee on Appropriations |
| 02/04/2015 | Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (20-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/04/2015 | Committee substitute printed 15104619D-H1 |
| 02/04/2015 | Referred to Committee on Appropriations |
| 02/06/2015 | Assigned App. sub: Public Safety |
| 02/06/2015 | Impact statement from VCSC (HB2040H1) |
| 02/06/2015 | Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) |
| 02/06/2015 | Reported from Appropriations (20-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/07/2015 | Read first time |
| 02/09/2015 | Read second time |
| 02/09/2015 | Committee substitute agreed to 15104619D-H1 |
| 02/09/2015 | Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2040H1 |
| 02/10/2015 | Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (100-Y 0-N) |
| 02/10/2015 | VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (100-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/11/2015 | Impact statement from DPB (HB2040H1) |
| 02/11/2015 | Constitutional reading dispensed |
| 02/11/2015 | Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice |
| 02/16/2015 | Reported from Courts of Justice (13-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/16/2015 | Rereferred to Finance |
| 02/18/2015 | Reported from Finance with amendment (12-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/19/2015 | Passed by for the day (0-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/19/2015 | Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/20/2015 | Read third time |
| 02/20/2015 | Reading of amendment waived |
| 02/20/2015 | Committee amendment agreed to |
| 02/20/2015 | Engrossed by Senate as amended |
| 02/20/2015 | Passed Senate with amendment (38-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/23/2015 | Placed on Calendar |
| 02/24/2015 | Senate amendment rejected by House (0-Y 99-N) |
| 02/24/2015 | VOTE: REJECTED (0-Y 99-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/25/2015 | Senate insisted on amendment (39-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/25/2015 | Senate requested conference committee |
| 02/26/2015 | House acceded to request |
| 02/26/2015 | Conferees appointed by House |
| 02/26/2015 | Delegates: Bell, Robert B., Anderson, Carr |
| 02/26/2015 | Conferees appointed by Senate |
| 02/26/2015 | Senators: Obenshain, McDougle, Howell |
| 02/26/2015 | C Amended by conference committee |
| 02/26/2015 | Conference report agreed to by House (97-Y 0-N) |
| 02/26/2015 | VOTE: ADOPTION (97-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/27/2015 | Conference report agreed to by Senate (37-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 03/06/2015 | Enrolled |
| 03/06/2015 | Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2040ER) |
| 03/06/2015 | Impact statement from DPB (HB2040ER) |
| 03/06/2015 | Signed by Speaker |
| 03/07/2015 | Signed by President |
| 03/10/2015 | Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 3/10/15 |
| 03/10/2015 | G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, Sunday, March 29, 2015 |
| 03/11/2015 | Impact statement from VCSC (HB2040ER) |
| 03/23/2015 | G Approved by Governor-Chapter 395 (effective 7/1/15) |
| 03/23/2015 | G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0395) |
Comments
Based on the impact statement, only 12 citizens were convicted of receiving money for procuring a person for prostitution in the past four years. There were no convictions relating to forced labor, concubinage, or manufacture of obscene material or child pornography. The legislation continues the excessive criminalization in the Commonwealth. It requires more citizens to be added to an unwieldy public sex offender registry which categorizes over 80% of those citizens as violent. The categorization is offense based and, as a result, provides virtually no information to the public to assess potential risk to families and communities.
The drafting and enforcement of our criminal sexual conduct laws, particularly those targeting crimes against children, are driven by a powerful collective feeling of visceral revulsion. Our shared emotional response to these crimes has created self-defeating policies, unconstitutional laws, and cruel punishments. We aren’t reasoning toward justice and prevention. We’re raging toward vengeance—and are abandoning basic constitutional values in the process. We suffer from a problem as ancient as it is apparently incurable— how to prioritize enlightenment over prejudice and devise a system capable of fairly judging a small and intensely hated minority.
Goetting, Nathan. "Moral Panic over Sex Offenses Results in Cruel and Self-defeating Overpunishment - Collateral Consequences Resource Center." Collateral Consequences Resource Center. National Lawyers Guild Review, 16 Jan. 2015. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.