INDIANAPOLIS — Despite the stalling tactics in the Indiana House, the Senate is moving forward with its legislative business, starting with a fast-tracked bill aimed at cracking down on the commercial sex trade.
A Senate committee approved legislation Thursday that will ramp up the penalties for people who promote and profit from sex trafficking.
The legislation’s supporters want the bill passed and signed into law before thousands of people descend on Indianapolis for next month’s Super Bowl. They say the event will drive up the demand for prostitutes as, they claim, it has in other Super Bowl host cities.
State Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport, who filed the bill, told committee members that it was time to “stop carrying on this insane tradition.”
The committee’s vote set into motion the legislative process for getting the bill to the Senate floor for a final vote as soon as next week. Once passed, it would have to get through the House before it could go the governor’s desk for his signature.
House Democratic leaders have delayed the start of the House session, though. A majority of the 40 House Democrats stayed behind closed doors on the first day of the session on Wednesday, robbing House Republicans of the two-thirds quorum needed to conduct business.
They’ve indicated they won’t show up until GOP leaders agree to hold public hearings around the state on the contentious “right to work” bill that forbids employers from entering into contracts that require workers to pay union dues.
Head’s bill has garnered widespread support, but he said a delay in the bill’s passage could mean it won’t be passed in time to be in effect for the Feb. 5 Super Bowl.
Head took up the bill at the request of Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who told Senate committee members that the Super Bowl was a prime event for commercial sex traffickers to fill a demand by out-of-town visitors for prostitutes.
The bill would close some loopholes in existing state law and increase prison penalties for transporting a child younger than 16 to engage in prostitution. It would also make it easier for local prosecutors to go after adults who lure minors, illegal immigrants and other vulnerable people into prostitution.
Some committee members expressed concern that the bill won’t increase penalties for people who solicit prostitutes. Solicitation of commercial sex remains a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $5,000 and a year in jail.
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