Republican Sens. Joseph Hardy and Pat Spearman have co-sponsored SB413. The bill, under review by the Judiciary Committee, takes a two-step approach to reversing the state’s legal positioning on prostitution.
First, it would prohibit the “granting of a license for a house of prostitution.” It would also eliminate “an exemption from criminal liability for prostitution committed in a licensed house of prostitution; eliminating exemptions from certain laws for licensed houses of prostitution.”
If approved, the legislation would criminalize prostitution and violators could be jailed, fined or both. Advertising prostitution services would be illegal as well.
Critics of legal prostitution argue that it leads to sex trafficking. But Chuck Muth, spokesman for the Nevada Brothel Association (NBA), said legal prostitution allows for the industry to be regulated and strict health and safety standards to be in place.
“We find it unfortunate that Sens. Hardy and Spearman have decided to focus their attention on legal brothels where the public’s health and workers’ safety have been protected for almost 50 years now, and where the women who work there do so voluntarily and only after passing a vigorous FBI background check,” Muth said.