Senate panel advances bill to remove separate pimping-and-pandering charge tied to trafficking of minors

The Judiciary subcommittee advanced Senate Bill 42, a measure carried on behalf of the governor and the first lady that removes a separate statutory charge for pimping and pandering of a minor and directs prosecutions and sentencing under the state's human-trafficking-of-a-minor law.

The bill's sponsor told the committee judges in at least two counties have treated pimping and pandering as sufficiently similar to the human-trafficking offense that defendants received the lesser sentence under the rule of lenity. The sponsor said the bill's purpose is to consolidate overlapping elements so that prosecutors can pursue the trafficking charge and judges will sentence under the harsher trafficking penalties.

Committee members did not hear public testimony on the bill, and a motion to pass the bill was made and seconded; the committee recorded an affirmative voice vote and advanced the measure.

The measure, as described by the sponsor in committee, does not create a new offense; it removes a duplicative statutory path so conduct that meets the elements of pimping and pandering a minor will be charged and sentenced as human trafficking of a minor.

No legislative findings, fiscal estimates, or statutory cross-references were introduced in the hearing record presented to the subcommittee during this session.

The committee recorded no roll-call vote with individual member votes in the transcript; the chair called for voice assent and the motion passed.

The legislature will carry the bill forward to the next committee stage consistent with usual procedures.