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House Judiciary’s changes to exploitation statutes move forward to third reading
Summary
The House approved the Judiciary committee's amendments to H.694, consolidating and clarifying 'exploitation' offenses in the criminal code to cover exploitation by corrections staff, caretakers of minors and law-enforcement situations; third reading was ordered.
The House took up House Bill 694, which Judiciary described as a package to clarify and consolidate existing 'exploitation' offenses in the criminal code.
Representative Oliver (member from Sheldon) explained that H.694 addresses three related statutes by including both a definition of a 'penetrative' act and a broader definition of 'conduct' that captures nonpenetrative exploitative behavior. The bill extends prohibitions to persons in positions of power over others — including Department of Corrections supervision situations, caretakers and professionals with responsibility for minors (noting a four-year age differential where a position of power exists), and law-enforcement detentions — to ensure consistent coverage across statutory sections.
Representative Oliver listed witnesses who testified to the Judiciary Committee, including department counsel and victim-protection advocates. The committee reported favorably (the transcript records a committee vote of 11–0) and the House approved the committee's recommended amendments by voice vote; third reading was ordered.
What happens next: H.694 has been amended as recommended and is set for third reading on a future floor calendar.
Quotation: “Your House Judiciary Committee believes it is important to reference both of these terms and their definitions in order to ensure that we capture the type of [redacted] activity we believe these statutes should cover,” Representative Oliver said (transcript contains redactions for certain terms).
