The bill would amend the Penal code and the Code of Criminal Procedure by increasing the penalty for the offense of prostitution under certain circumstances.  The bill provides that the offense of prostitution would be a third degree felony if the person who was to receive the fee from the actor or who was solicited to be hired by the actor was, at the time of the offense, younger than 17 years of age.  The bill further provides that a person convicted of this new third degree felony prostitution or the offense of online solicitation of a minor would have to register as a sex offender.

Under current statute the offense of prostitution is a Class B misdemeanor.  However if the defendant has been previously convicted one or more times of the offense of prostitution, then the new offense is a Class A misdemeanor.  Finally, if the defendant has been previously convicted three or more times of the offense of prostitution, then the new offense is a state jail felony.

A Class B misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed 180 days, a fine not to exceed $2,000, or both fine and confinement.

A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed $4,000, or both fine and imprisonment. 

A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.

A third degree felony is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 10 years or less than 2 years, or in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.

For fiscal year 2006 there were 503 state jail admissions for the offense of prostitution.  There were also 101 felony community supervision placements and 673 misdemeanor community supervision placements for the offense of prostitution.  Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or, longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison.  The probable impact of implementing the provisions of the bill cannot be determined due to the unavailability of reliable data or information related to the number of times the person who receives the fee or is solicited to be hired is younger than 17 at the time of the offense.