Ohio’s laws on sex and labor trafficking, once among the weakest in the nation, are expected to take a leap forward today.
House Bill 262, after swift approval by a legislative committee and the Ohio Senate yesterday, is scheduled for a final concurrence vote in the House today. If it passes, Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign it into law.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, for the first time takes aim at “johns” who hire prostitutes.
The Safe Harbor Act, as it is known, also would shield juvenile human-trafficking victims from going to jail on prostitution charges, establish a fund to help victims using seized assets of traffickers and increase the penalty for trafficking to a first-degree felony with a mandatory prison term of up to 15 years.
An amendment added to Fedor’s bill yesterday would have customers of prostitutes facing a possible felony charge if they knowingly pay for sex with someone who is 16 or 17 years old. Now in such situations, the “john” frequently is not charged or faces a lesser crime, while the prostitute is jailed.
The bill also would allow some victims to have their records expunged and require convicted traffickers to register as sex offenders.
Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, led the Senate in an ovation for Fedor, a former schoolteacher and state senator who has been fighting for passage of human-trafficking laws for seven years.
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