By Amelia Arvesen
KU Statehouse Wire Service
TOPEKA — Sex trafficking victim advocates urged lawmakers to consider regulations of strip clubs and adult bookstores in a hearing Tuesday.
A key component of Senate Bill 147 would ban consumption of alcohol in strip clubs, prohibit total nudity and lap dances, and require these nightclub businesses to close from midnight until 6 a.m. In addition, the bill prohibits establishment of a sexually oriented business within 1,000 feet of a house of worship, residence, park, library, school and child-care facility.
The bill is referred to as the community defense act, aiming to promote health, safety, and the general welfare of Kansans and prevent negative secondary effects such as an increase in crime.
September Trible, a director at Restoration House of Greater Kansas City, works with survivors of sex crimes and said she wants to see a level of protection provided to women working in sexually-oriented businesses.
“When they are working in these types of legalized commercial sex industries, this is not a simple matter of choice,” Trible said.
Trible works with Christine McDonald, a survivor of sex trafficking, who said she was sold for $2,500 at age 15 in the 1980s to a strip club owner. The owner also gave Trible drugs.
McDonald said she wants to see strip clubs closed everywhere, but the bill is a step toward ending exploitation of women and girls.
Philip Bradley, lobbying for the Equal Entertainment Group, said closing the business is exactly the intention of the bill, and he considers it overregulation.
“The folks who are doing illegal things are what make the entire industry look bad,” Bradley said.
He said it would cost up to 1,000 jobs. Bradley proposed lawmakers separate the bill to differentiate between adult retail stores such as movie and bookstores, and on-premise establishments such as nightclubs.
Sen. Tom Arpke (R-Salina) said the sex industry — Internet porn, adult video stores, strip clubs and human trafficking — is intertwined.
Phillip Cosby, state director of American Family Action in Kansas and Missouri, said Missouri’s Supreme Court upheld as constitutional a law similar to the Kansas bill. Adoption of the Senate bill will help Kansas communities fight a lucrative industry, he said.
“You would be hard pressed to find a city council that wants more SOBs in their community,” Cosby said.
In this case, Cosby said SOB refers to sexually-oriented businesses.
Tennessee and Arizona have statewide regulations.
The Senators on the Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee asked few questions. The committee took no action on the bill Tuesday.
Amelia Arvesen is a University of Kansas senior from San Ramon, Calif., majoring in journalism.