After surviving a close vote Thursday, a bill that would criminalize the sale and purchase of “sexual contact” in Wyoming is closer to becoming law.
House Bill 62 proposes expand the state’s definitions of criminal prostitution and soliciting prostitution, to include “touching (someone’s) intimate parts.” Other sex acts are already included in that definition.
Buying or selling the act would be punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.
The bill sailed through the Wyoming House of Representatives with 60 members in favor, none against, and two excused as absent. But it weathered a tighter, 15-10 vote in the state Senate on Thursday after its first debate in that chamber.
It cleared its second of two Senate readings Friday, and must survive one more vote.
If no one makes a last-minute change to it, the bill will head from there to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk for passage or veto.
Two earlier forms of this bill have failed in the past two years. One died in the then-House speaker’s drawer in 2024, and another likewise failed House consideration in 2023.
These Girls
Many state senators worried during Thursday’s debate that the bill will merely heap criminal charges on people who are already victims of sex trafficking.
Human sex trafficking is a felony in Wyoming, with its most severe versions punishable by up to 50 years in prison. Its chargeability relies on the broader term “sexual servitude,” rather than from the definition of prostitution.
Wyoming has a safe harbor law, which says victims of human trafficking aren’t criminally liable for performing commercial sex acts as a direct result of being trafficked.
That’s not enough to protect victims, Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott told her fellow members.
The victim may find herself not knowing how to reverse a prostitution conviction, said Nethercott.
“She probably doesn’t speak English. She has no resources; she has no — probably — home,” she said.
Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, echoed that sentiment, saying the bill doesn’t solve human trafficking problems.
“The idea that we’d … say, ‘We’re here to help, you’re under arrest,’ just does not make sense,” he said.
Safe Harbor
Bill proponents, conversely, said expanding the scope of what is a prostitution crime will help law enforcement agents gain a foothold into murky sex trafficking rings or like dubious massage parlors, and will actually help victims in the long run.
“If we have good law enforcement, good law enforcement won’t even execute an arrest (of the victim),” said Sen. Jared Olsen, referencing the safe harbor law.
The process may not unfold with as much difficulty as Nethercott said it would, he continued.
“So I think, if law enforcement is behind this bill — and they are, and want to see progress in this area — and we want to tackle the issue,” said Olsen, “I don’t think there’s going to be an outpouring of arrests of victims of human trafficking.”
Nethercott countered again, saying she questions why Wyoming’s law enforcement agents can’t get the warrants they need when “everyone else in the town knows exactly what’s going on” at a dubious massage parlor.
With evidence like employees who can’t speak English and who get moved around regularly, traffic day and night, and other interviews, she said that, “I think most judges in this state would sign off on a warrant.”
Massage Parlor Raid
A judge did sign off on a Rock Springs massage parlor search in November 2023.
No arrests were made at that time.
Authorities at the time said they suspected the masseuses and others working in the parlor were human trafficking victims and were forced or coerced to perform sex acts as part of a larger, organized criminal enterprise.
A year-and-a-half later, Sweetwater County Attorney Danny Erramouspe hasn’t received a charging recommendation from the search, he told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
That may be because paid sexual contact isn’t illegal now, he added.
“Right now there’s no statute that prohibits that stuff, so it may not come to me if they’re unable to get probable cause … of human trafficking,” he said.
Erramouspe acknowledged that the proposed law would make prostitutes chargeable for selling manual sex acts. But he said it may be a key tool to get them help.
“To me, it’s not so much about the act of prostitution, as it is about being able to have a tool to work with, on human trafficking,” said Erramouspe. “I know very few people want to see the individual go down as much as they want to see the person who’s trafficking that individual.
“And I think that’s the underlying purpose of that bill.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
