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Committee backs coercion and sextortion updates after testimony about rising online threats to teens
Summary
HB 221 would create new criminal offenses for repeated online encouragement of suicide and strengthen sextortion and extortion penalties. Committee members and victim-service groups supported the bill and it was favorably recommended.
The committee voted to favorably recommend the second substitute of HB 221, a measure that expands the criminal code to address modern online coercion tactics including sextortion and repeated encouragement of suicide. Representative Wilcox said task-force data show a substantial rise in sextortion tips and tragic loss of life tied to online coercion networks.
The bill creates a new second-degree felony for intentionally encouraging suicide when done on multiple occasions as part of a pattern that causes death or attempt, raises statutory fines for extortion involving intimate images, criminalizes refusing to delete intimate images used to coerce victims, and contemplates registry consequences for offenders; the committee heard supporting testimony from victim services and prosecutors.
Witnesses, including the Victim Services Commission and the Statewide Association of Prosecutors, emphasized escalating harms and law-enforcement trends; committee members discussed the elements required for speech-based criminalization and why drafters chose an aggravated/ pattern-based threshold (e.g., multiple incidents) to reduce First Amendment risk. The committee favorably recommended the bill unanimously.
