Senate Judiciary Committee advances bill expanding prostitution definition to aid trafficking investigations

The Wyoming Senate Judiciary Committee voted to recommend passage of House Bill 62, a measure that would add a definition of "sexual contact" to the state's prostitution statute to give law enforcement what proponents described as an initial crime to investigate illicit massage parlors and human‑trafficking operations.

Supporters told the committee the change is targeted at covert commercial sex enterprises often operated by traffickers. Representative Heiner, who carried the bill in the House this year, told the committee the proposal mirrors language used in assault statutes and narrows the definition to conduct done for money or other property. "It has to be for money or other property to constitute prostitution," Representative Heiner said, explaining why the change would apply to commercial enterprises rather than private, consensual contact.

The bill would add a definition of "sexual contact" and…