Bills on prostitution exemption, ‘revenge porn’ advance at Capitol

A bill to ramp up penalties for sex traffickers and to prohibit police from engaging in sexual penetration during prostitution investigations passed in a joint House-Senate conference committee Thursday, along with a bill that would criminalize so-called "revenge porn."

"I think this is another huge step forward to protect exploited women and definitely prostituted persons, so we’re happy with the results," Kathryn Xian, executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, said after the committee vote.

Police initially opposed deleting an exemption for police in prostitution investigations, but back-and-forth discussions with legislators last month led to a mutual understanding that the provision needed to be nixed. At the time, Honolulu Police Department officials said they never sought an exemption to allow their officers to have sex with prostitutes; their intent was to preserve language to protect police who verbally agree to have sex with prostitutes as part of an investigation.

A section of Hawaii’s prostitution law states, "This section shall not apply to any member of a police department, a sheriff, or a law enforcement officer acting in the course and scope of duties." The agreed-upon draft of House Bill 1926 proposes tacking on "unless engaged in sexual penetration or sadomasochistic abuse" at the end of the exemption — effectively giving police immunity from the prostitution law except in cases when an officer engages in sexual penetration.

The police exemption, which has been on the books for quite some time, sparked outrage and worldwide media coverage when it came to light earlier this session.

The bill also adds sadomasochistic abuse to the state’s definition of sexual conduct and increase the fine for solicitation of a minor to $5,000 from $2,000.

Judiciary conference committee members also agreed to a bill that criminalizes revenge porn intentionally distributing sexually explicit images without the consent of the person depicted.

If House Bill 1750 passes, knowingly disclosing an image or video of a nude person or someone engaging in sexual conduct with the intention to substantially harm the person portrayed would become a first-degree violation of privacy, which is a Class C felony punishable by one- to five-years in prison.

"With technology comes different crimes," House Vice Speaker John Mizuno, author and introducer of the bill, said Thursday in a statement. "Today our Judiciary conferees passed a very important and progressive bill to address a gap in the law and criminalize such offensive crimes."

Revenge porn is a hot topic across the nation. Mizuno characterized it as degrading, humiliating and career-threatening, and noted that a 15-year-old California girl committed suicide in September 2012 after nude photos of her were circulated.

Several states have moved to outlaw revenge porn. As of October, California and New Jersey were the only states to criminalize revenge porn, but the National Conference of State Legislatures reported earlier this month that at least 25 other states including Hawaii, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have introduced legislation to follow suit.