Senate committee hears survivors urge $500 fine on buyers of commercial sex; funds to Victims Assistance Fund

Senate Committee members heard more than a dozen witnesses urge passage of SB 267, legislation that would impose a $500 fine on people who patronize prostitution and direct those fines to the New Hampshire Victims Assistance Fund.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Donovan Fenton (D–District 10), told the committee: “This bill would establish a $500 fine for individuals who engage in prostitution as a patron in addition to any other existing penalties and direct those funds to the Victims Assistance Fund.” He said the measure is meant both to deter demand and to generate resources for survivor services.

Survivors and nonprofit leaders offered testimony about the harms of commercial sexual exploitation and the need for funding. “There are a lot of statistics that will be shared today, but the one that keeps me fighting for positive change is 13. That is the average age girls are trafficked in the United States,” said Abby Fabiacci of Empowered Network. Audrey Doody, co‑executive director of Safe Exit Initiative and a survivor who testified, described being targeted as a teenager and urged committee members to support demand‑reduction policies. “I urge you to take this bill into consideration,” Doody told the panel.

Advocates described the bill as both a deterrent and a source of survivor support. Dr. Stacy Reeburns, who testified as a survivor and as a member of the Human Trafficking Community Research Hub, said fines directed to services could fund housing, counseling and job training. Alyssa Bernard, deputy director of World Without Exploitation, cited experience in Washington state where a similar fee structure generated funds that supported transitional housing and other services.

Committee members asked technical questions about existing penalties and how the proposed fine would interact with current sentencing. Senator Sandra Abbas pressed whether the committee should make the patron section a class A misdemeanor (which can carry a possible jail term), a change advocates said they favored for greater accountability. Committee members agreed to draft an amendment clarifying that the subsection covering buyers could be elevated to a class A misdemeanor while leaving other sections unchanged; the committee did not adopt a final floor amendment in the hearing.

Procedural outcome: toward the end of the session the committee voted to move SB 267 to second reading. Committee members discussed but did not finalize an amendment; staff were directed to prepare proposed language to be considered on the floor.

The bill drew consistent support from survivor‑led organizations and national groups urging the legislature to shift accountability toward buyers and to channel fines into services. Opposing testimony was not recorded in the hearing transcript.

Next steps: committee staff said they would draft the proposed amendment elevating the buyer subsection and circulate it to members. No final floor amendment or final chamber vote was recorded in the transcript.