Colorado Democrats have officially introduced a bill to fully decriminalize prostitution.
If passed, Senate Bill 26-097 would make Colorado the first state in the entire country to completely remove criminal penalties for buying and selling sex between consenting adults.
If enacted, the legislation would repeal the state criminal offenses of:
- Prostitution
- Soliciting for prostitution
- Patronizing a prostitute
- Keeping a place of prostitution
- Pandering related to arranging prostitution
According to the official legislative summary, the bill would statewide decriminalize “commercial sexual activity among consenting adults” and explicitly prevent local governments from passing their own ordinances banning prostitution.
That means cities and counties would be legally barred from criminalizing prostitution even if local officials or voters object.
Lead sponsors of the legislation include:
- State Sen. Nick Hinrichsen (D-Pueblo)
- State Sen. Lisa Cutter (D-Jefferson County)
- Rep. Lorena Garcia (D-Adams County)
- Rep. Rebekah Stewart (D-Lakewood)
More from KDVR:
“Criminalizing prostitution endangers adults who engage in consensual sexual activity,” Colorado’s proposed bill reads. “Fear of criminal punishment among consenting adults engaged in commercial sexual activity encourages physical, emotional, and structural violence against sex workers, subjects them to economic crimes, and increases resistance to harm-reduction practices. Sex workers are less likely to report these crimes or seek medical help following an assault.”
Colorado’s bill goes further than Maine’s by also decriminalizing buying sex, which the bill says is to allow sex workers to better be able to screen prospective clients. Since the clients wouldn’t be participating in an illegal activity if the pass was law, they would be more willing to provide personal information, maintaining sex workers’ safety.
The bill also separates human trafficking from commercial sexual activity and says decriminalizing consensual commercial sex would allow law enforcement to better find traffickers or people exploiting sex workers.
“Decriminalizing consensual sex work for adults enables law enforcement to focus resources on perpetrators who induce others to perform sex acts by force, fraud, or coercion,” the bill states.
[…]
“Sex work transactions often occur online, spanning multiple local government jurisdictions,” the bill states. “Sex workers deserve clarity and certainty that they can safely conduct business within the state, regardless of the local governing authority.”
While Nevada allows regulated brothels in specific counties, no state has ever dared to completely decriminalize the entire trade statewide. Even deep-blue Maine only decriminalized the selling of sex, Colorado Democrats want to make it a free-for-all for the buyers too.
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