This past session, we passed a new law that shifts the responsibility in under age prostitution cases to the pimps, and the johns. There are unfortunately a rising number of prostitution cases where young women are forced into turning tricks. Methods involve assault, intimidation, and increasingly by getting them hooked on drugs, and then forcing them into prostitution to keep their drug supply.
This is slavery. No one should start their adult life this way. It was incorrectly reported that House Bill 1628 made it illegal to have sex with anyone under 18. This is not true. The bill makes it a felony to pay for sex, or for sex performances by someone under 18. At some point we had to make the “johns” responsible for creating the market for this. Now we have. The girls should not be penalized and potentially carry a criminal record their entire lives when they were forced into it. HB1628 fixes that.
The first two convictions are now in the books – http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/print/?sid=3222130
Steve
This is very disturbing. Several of us have been working actively to come up with a solution to the problem of declining gas tax revenue due to more efficient cars. In the background, we have passed measures in response to NHDOTs “the sky is falling” cries that they can not fix all the unsafe bridges in the state. Now, it appears that they had a half a million dollars in extra funding to spend on experiments. Maybe the study is a good idea. Nonetheless, the idea should have been vetted through the normal public process, where you can express your opinion before they spend your money.
NH State Representative Steven Smith 
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