Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Legislative counsel urges separate extortion statute for image-based coercion; committee debates penalties and limits
Summary
During continued markup of H626, legislative counsel recommended moving extortion provisions into a standalone statute (referred to in discussion as 26 0 7), aligning the penalty with general extortion (5-year felony), and adding enhancements for minors and for outcomes causing serious injury or death. Committee deferred complex financial-tracing proposals and moved statute-of-limitations language for further drafting.
Legislative counsel recommended that the committee move extortion-related language tied to image-based coercion out of the current distribution statute and into a new, standalone extortion statute, and members debated how harshly those acts should be punished.
“For the record, Michelle Channels office of legislative consult, and we are talking about markup and, strike all committee amendment to h 6 2 6,” said Michelle, who outlined drafting options and urged consolidation of extortion language into its own statute: “my recommendation would be that you don't just pull b to b. You bring the whole ****** extortion into its own statute.”
Why it matters: The change would separate offenses that primarily involve disclosure of an already-created image from offenses that use threats to compel additional images or sexual acts. Committee members said that separating the statutes should make the law cleaner and easier to prosecute without forcing readers…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
