BILL NUMBER: S8609
SPONSOR: MYRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to enacting the "victims
protection and child sex buyer accountability act"
 
PURPOSE:
This bill will close dangerous loopholes in New York State law that
currently leave fifteen-to seventeen-year-old minors unprotected from
commercial sexual exploitation; to ensure that all minors under eighteen
are fully covered by prostitution-related statutes; and to conform New
York State law with federal and virtually all other state laws that make
it a felony for individuals to purchase sex from minors.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 names the bill the "Victims Protection and Child Sex Buyer
Accountability Act."
Section 2 amends § 230.05 of the penal law to raise the age threshold
from under fifteen to under eighteen for second-degree patronizing.
Section 3 amends subdivisions 1 and 2 of § 230.06 of the penal law to
raise the age threshold from under thirteen to under fifteen for first-
degree patronizing.
Section 4 amends the first undesignated paragraph of § 230.11 of the
penal law to raise the age for sexual contact-based offenses.
Section 5 amends § 230.32 of the penal law to remove offender age thres-
holds and apply to any person who promotes prostitution of a child under
the age of fifteen.
Section 6 amends § 230.33 of the penal law to include deception, manipu-
lation, coercion, abuse of trust or authority, and the exploitation of a
position of power, dependency, or emotional control in the definition of
"compelling prostitution."
Section 7 provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New York law has long failed to fully protect all minors from sexual
exploitation. Although federal law considers anyone under eighteen
involved in commercial sex to be a victim of sex trafficking, New York's
Penal Law only extends full felony protection to those under fifteen or
seventeen depending on the charge. This outdated tiered framework has
created a glaring loophole: a person can pay for sex with a fifteen,
sixteen, or seventeen-year-old and avoid the most serious consequences
simply because of the victim's age. Given that a significant percentage
of child sexual exploitation victims in New York are girls and young
people of color, this lack of recognition under the law as both children
and crime victims can be seen a form of adultification bias - an estab-
lished form of implicit bias whereby children of color, often Black
children, are perceived as older and less innocent than their peers by
adults and systems professionals. In addition, given the significant
and relentless issue of online exploitation of minors, this law would
give law enforcement the necessary tools to address the issue of adults
buying minors for sex on the Internet in New York State.
This bill ends this injustice by establishing a uniform, bright-line
rule determining that all children under the age of eighteen are legally
incapable of consenting to commercial sex and ensures that sex buyers
who exploit a minor's vulnerability face appropriate felony charges.
In addition, the bill updates the statute on "compelling prostitution"
to reflect modern trafficking dynamics, including manipulation, psycho-
logical coercion, and abuse of trust tactics frequently used in
"boyfriend" or grooming-based exploitation.
Importantly, the bill would only apply to sex buyers over the age of 21
given New York's raisethe-age statute. Moreover, minor buyers would
benefit greatly from a youth justice response, including services and
community-based support.
To conclude, this legislation: (1) brings New York in line with federal
law that no one under eighteen can legally be patronized or prostituted;
(2) reflects a trauma-informed approach rooted in survivor experience;
and (3) ensures that buyers and traffickers-not the exploited-bear the
weight of accountability.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S8609: 230.05 penal law, 230.11 penal law, 230.33 penal law