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Judiciary committee advances grooming/enticing bill after lengthy debate on definitions and penalties
Summary
HB105, expanding criminal definitions for grooming and electronic enticement of children, was advanced after lawmakers voiced concerns about overbreadth, differing penalties for electronic versus in‑person conduct, and chilling effects on normal adult‑child interactions.
Representative Gidley presented HB105 as a measure to add a grooming offense and to modernize the law to cover electronic communications that could be used to entice children into sexual exploitation or trafficking. "This bill ... takes current law and increases that law to add the term grooming concerning those that would want to entice children into sexual exploitation," Gidley said.
Committee members debated at length. Several senators warned that the statutory definition of "grooming"—"a pattern of…
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