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Senate Judiciary votes to form commission on illicit massage businesses, increase penalties in HB 405
Summary
The committee advanced HB 405, which creates a commission to study illicit massage businesses and recommends changes to licensing and criminal penalties; law‑enforcement and advocacy testimony supported stepped enforcement, while some stakeholders urged caution on broad penalty increases.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted in executive session to recommend HB 405, a bill establishing a commission to study illicit massage businesses (IMBs) and proposing increased penalties and other statutory changes aimed at combating human trafficking and related criminal activity.
Representative Terry Roy, speaking for the bill, described a statewide pattern of storefronts and former residential properties operating as IMBs and said law enforcement needs a coordinated, multi‑stakeholder response. "Our law enforcement community is having a horrible, difficult time being able to interdict and take these perpetrators off of our streets and out of our businesses and out of our communities," Roy told the…
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