BILL NUMBER: S2513
SPONSOR: SALAZAR
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to decriminalizing sex work;
and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating to prostitution
(Part A); to amend the criminal procedure law and the civil practice law
and rules, in relation to eliminating prior criminal records and making
other related changes; and to repeal certain provisions of the criminal
procedure law relating to the prosecution of prostitution offenses (Part
B); and to amend the multiple dwelling law, the public health law, the
real property actions and proceedings law, the real property law, the
vehicle and traffic law, and the administrative code of the city of New
York, in relation to making conforming changes (Part C)
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To repeal statutes that criminalize sex work between consenting adults,
but keep laws relating to minors or trafficking, and to provide for
criminal record relief for people convicted of crimes repealed under
this bill.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: States that this act shall be known and may be cited as
"Cecilia's Act for Rights in the Sex Trades".
Section 2: Contains Parts A, B, and C, as described below: Part A
repeals and amends parts of Penal Law Article 230 that criminalize sexu-
al activity between consenting adults, including if it involves "sex
work".
This provision does not repeal any existing statutory provisions that
prohibit sex work involving minors, force, intimidation, coercion, and
trafficking remain in effect. All such provisions remain in effect.
Part B repeals and amends parts of the Criminal Procedure Law and Civil
Practice Law and Rules to provide for criminal record relief for indi-
viduals previously convicted of crimes that are repealed under this
bill.
Part C repeals and amends parts of the Multiple Dwelling Law, Public
Health Law, Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, Real Property
Law, Vehicle and Traffic Law, and the Administrative Code of the City of
New York to make conforming changes and clarifications.
Section 3: Contains a severability clause.
Section 4: Sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This is a human rights bill, a racial justice and gender justice bill,
an immigrant rights bill, and an LGBTQ+ rights bill. This bill will also
make New York safer.
New York has over a dozen criminal and civil provisions that punish
adults who consent to sell or buy sex, as well as those who help and
depend on them. In addition, there are numerous prohibitions and punish-
ments for prostitution in a wide variety of laws. Trying to stop sex
work between consenting adults should not be the business of the crimi-
nal legal system. Criminalizing sex work criminalizes a means of
survival for marginalized people, increases the risk of violence,
enables police misconduct, and it makes LGBTQ people especially vulner-
able to police harassment and arrest based on their gender expression
and sexuality.
"Cecilia's Act for Rights in the Sex Trades" honors the late Cecilia
Gentili, who was a chief architect of this bill, and an activist who
fought for the needs of sex workers, survivors of human trafficking, and
many other marginalized communities. Governor Kathy Hochul honored Ceci-
lia as a "champion," an "icon," and a "steadfast activist in the trans
rights movement" who "helped countless people find love, joy and accept-
ance." This bill is named for Cecilia because her life story illustrates
the harms of criminalization, while her life's work demonstrates how
alternatives to incarceration can reduce harm and elevate people.
Born in a small town in Argentina, Cecilia's early life was marked by
ridicule because of her presentation, abuse, and rejection from some
family members. She saved money from a hairdresser job to fund her move
to the U.S. and at 26 she moved to Miami, seeking a better life as an
openly transgender woman. Still, she was excluded from most jobs in the
formal economy either because she was transgender, was without legal
status, or both. She became a sex worker to financially support herself.
She was arrested for prostitution. Cecilia's arrest made it more diffi-
cult to find work and housing. Cecilia slipped into substance depend-
ence. She began to rely on and live with an exploiter, who trafficked
her. The criminal legal system deepened her dependence on this abuser.
She was arrested and was placed in jails with men who assaulted her.
When she was released, she was sent back to her trafficker. At times,
electronic monitoring devices literally tethered her to her trafficker
and his home.
Luckily, Cecilia met a caseworker who provided support. She was able to
escape her trafficker and got treatment for her substance use. She was
awarded asylum, which granted her more stability. She grew into the
admired policy wonk, cook, actress, author, and activist that she is
remembered as today.
Cecilia was a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the first Trump admin-
istration's effort to rollback protections for transgender people in the
Affordable Care Act. Her legislative legacy in New York includes leader-
ship in the successful efforts to end the Walking While Trans ban, to
pass the Gender Expression Non- Discrimination Act, and to pass laws
aimed at making New York safer for non-citizens.
The work she championed, on behalf of people in the sex trades-whether
consensual or trafficked--provides glimpses into what New York could be
if the state diverted money from criminalization and invested in
supportive services. She founded the COIN Clinic (Cecilia's Occupational
Inclusion Network) which provides free health services for sex workers.
She helped secure city funding for supportive services for the transgen-
der community. During COVID, she worked to provide mutual aid to sex
workers and other members of her communities.
Cecilia and her partner also clothed, fed, and housed sex workers and
others who had nowhere to go. These actions are currently potentially
criminalized under Penal Law 230.40, imposing criminal penalties on
people who show kindness to sex workers by housing them. This bill will
decriminalize the sort of kindness Cecilia demonstrated.
Cecilia is the embodiment of how criminalization fails the most margi-
nalized sex workers and survivors of trafficking. More importantly, she
was the embodiment of how focusing on services, such as non-carceral
rehabilitation, and acts of kindness can change one's life trajectory.
Even in death, Cecilia can illuminate the path forward for New York
within a more equitable legal system for those in the sex trades,
including those who wish to leave.
Criminalization drives sex work into the shadows in an underground ille-
gal environment where sex workers face increased violence, abuse, and
exploitation, and are more vulnerable to trafficking. Though anti-sex
work laws may have originally been conceived as a protection of socie-
ty's morals and perhaps even women, these laws now criminalize women and
LGBTQ people for acts of survival and resistance to the force of econom-
ic insecurity. Decriminalizing sex work upholds the rights of those who
trade sex, reduces violence and trafficking, and increases labor
protections. Research on the impact of full decriminalization of sex
work in New Zealand and New South Wales, Australia found:
-90 percent of sex workers believe decriminalization gave them more
employment, legal, and health rights,
-60 percent of sex workers stated they were better able to screen and
refuse potentially dangerous clients,
-73 percent of sex workers entered the industry to pay for household
expenses, while another 82 percent stayed in the industry for the same
reason, and
-Sex workers also have greater access to and use of condoms. France's
2016 implementation of "End Demand" (also referred to as the "Nordic
model") re-defined the criminalization of sex work to end the arrests
and prosecutions of sex workers but maintained all penalties for patron-
izing or "promoting" sex work. As a result, research shows that:
-63 percent of sex workers reported worse living conditions,
-42 percent reported increased workplace violence, and
-38 percent reported increased difficulty negotiating condom use with
clients.
The "Nordic Model" is simply not as effective as decriminalization, if
the goal is increased safety and well-being for individuals who consen-
sually engage in sex work.
Decriminalization of sex work is supported by many leading interna-
tional, national, and New York human rights organizations, who recognize
that comprehensive decriminalization is the best way to reduce coercion
in the sex trade, reduce STI transmission, reduce police violence, and
enable individuals to engage in effective harm reduction. Groups
supporting decriminalization include:
World Health Organization
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women
UNAIDS
Lambda Legal
ACLU
Center for Constitutional Rights
Scientists for Sex Worker Rights
National Center for Lesbian Rights
GMHC
NYC Anti-Violence Project
Make the Road NY
Red Canary Project
Sex Workers Project
NYCLU
New Pride Agenda
New Hour for Women & Children
Equality New York
Legal Aid Society NYC
The Bronx Defenders
Brooklyn Defender Services
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Womankind
VOCAL-NY
Center for HIV Law and Policy
Urban Justice Center
Association of Legal Aid Attorneys
Housing Works
This bill does not alter the criminal and civil legal provisions under
which individuals who engage in trafficking, coercion, sexual abuse,
abuse of minors, or rape may be prosecuted. In fact, when the law
differentiates between sex work between consenting adults and situations
where a party does not consent or that involve minors, sex workers will
have an increased ability to report abuse, rape, theft, and other crimes
perpetrated against them that today go ignored and are exacerbated by
law enforcement activity.
The bill allows individuals who have been previously convicted of
offenses that are repealed in this bill to vacate those judgments of
conviction.
This will enable them to access housing, health, and economic resources
that are currently off-limits to them because of their criminal records.
Record relief will also allow people to transition into other employment
if they choose, without the stigma and harassment that often follows
from having a criminal record with prostitution-related convictions.
Instead of treating all people in the sex trades as criminals, victims,
or both, it is time to create a more nuanced legal approach to the sex
trades. Sex workers want decriminalization so they can work in a legal
environment, work without fear of the police, report any violence they
experience, and report trafficking when it affects their peers. It is
time to put people before antiquated moral judgments.
 
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
This legislation would further advance the human rights of sex workers
who are doing what they can to make an income to support themselves and
their families. This legislation would humanize sex workers who deserve
to work in a safe, secure, and clean environment without fear of judge-
ment or arrest. The existing laws create crimes that primarily victimize
women and LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly women and LGBTQ+ individuals
of color, those that are in poverty, and immigrants. The advocacy group,
Survivors Against SESTA, says:
"For an issue which encompasses issues of economic justice, labor,
criminalization and policing, sexuality, racial justice, immigration,
gender identity, and complex other frameworks, sex worker rights can be
a lynchpin issue impacting the most marginalized in our communities.
Caring about LGBTQ survival means caring about the lives, health and
safety of sex workers "
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
SENATE:
2023-2024: S4396 (Salazar) - Referred to Codes.
2021-2022: S3075 (Salazar) - Referred to Codes.
2019-2020: S6419 (Salazar) - Referred to Rules in 2019, referred to
Codes in 2020.
ASSEMBLY:
2024: A8605A (Forrest) - Referred to Codes, Amended.
2021-2022: A849 (Gottfried) - Referred to Codes.
2019-2020: A8230 (Gottfried)- Referred to Codes.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
No negative fiscal implications. This bill, by eliminating arrests,
prosecutions, and incarceration of sex workers or alleged sex workers
would result in significant fiscal savings for local and state govern-
ment.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect thirty days after it becomes law, though each
Part contains an effective date applicable to that Part - Part A imme-
diately, Part B and C 30 days after enactment.

Statutes affected:
S2513: 230.00 penal law, 230.01 penal law, 230.02 penal law, 230.03 penal law, 230.10 penal law, 230.15 penal law, 230.30 penal law, 230.33 penal law, 230.34 penal law, 230.34-a penal law, 230.35 penal law, 230.40 penal law, 160.50 criminal procedure law, 160.50(3) criminal procedure law, 160.50(5) criminal procedure law, 440.10 criminal procedure law, 440.10(1) criminal procedure law, 1310 civil practice law, 1310(5) civil practice law, 60.47 criminal procedure law, 170.30 criminal procedure law, 170.30(4) criminal procedure law, 170.80 criminal procedure law, 420.35 criminal procedure law, 420.35(2) criminal procedure law, 720.35 criminal procedure law, 720.35(1) criminal procedure law, 12 multiple dwelling law, 12(1) multiple dwelling law, 2320 public health law, 711 real property actions and proceedings law, 711(5) real property actions and proceedings law, 231 real property law, 231(3) real property law, 233 real property law, 233(b) real property law