Florida Senate - 2024                      CS for CS for SB 1690
       
       
        
       By the Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice;
       the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senators Yarborough and
       Perry
       
       
       
       604-03273-24                                          20241690c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to human trafficking; amending s.
    3         562.13, F.S.; revising applicability of provisions
    4         governing the employment of minors by vendors licensed
    5         under the Beverage Law; creating s. 787.30, F.S.;
    6         defining terms; prohibiting the employment of persons
    7         younger than 21 years of age in adult entertainment
    8         establishments; providing criminal penalties;
    9         requiring adult entertainment establishments to check
   10         identification of entertainers; specifying forms of
   11         identification that may be used; prohibiting the
   12         raising of specified arguments as a defense in a
   13         prosecution for certain violations; providing an
   14         effective date.
   15  
   16         WHEREAS, Florida is ranked third nationally for reported
   17  cases of human trafficking abuses, many of which involved sex
   18  trafficking, and
   19         WHEREAS, adult entertainment establishments are widely
   20  recognized as being a significant part of the sex trafficking
   21  network used by traffickers to coerce and facilitate men, women,
   22  and children into performing sexual acts, which places the
   23  employees of these establishments in direct and frequent contact
   24  with the victims of human trafficking, and
   25         WHEREAS, victims of sex trafficking are frequently
   26  recruited to work as performers or employees in adult
   27  entertainment establishments, and
   28         WHEREAS, researchers have found that sex trafficking
   29  victims are more likely to be trafficked by someone from within
   30  her or his own community, and
   31         WHEREAS, persons younger than 21 years of age are more
   32  likely to still remain within and dependent on the community in
   33  which they were raised, and
   34         WHEREAS, research studies have identified the average age
   35  at which a person in the United States enters the sex trade for
   36  the first time as 17 years of age, and
   37         WHEREAS, sex trade at adult entertainment establishments is
   38  a common occurrence in Florida, thereby subjecting performers at
   39  these establishments to frequent propositions and enticements to
   40  engage in sex trade actions and sex trafficking from customers,
   41  as well as strip club employees, managers, and owners, and
   42         WHEREAS, an understanding of history and human nature
   43  reveals that there are sex criminals of various kinds who will
   44  prey on the young and vulnerable, and
   45         WHEREAS, restricting the employment of persons younger than
   46  21 years of age at adult entertainment establishments furthers
   47  an important state interest of protecting those vulnerable
   48  individuals from sex trafficking, drug abuse, and other harm,
   49  and
   50         WHEREAS, many court opinions recognize that, while
   51  expressive activities are entitled to some First Amendment
   52  protections at adult entertainment establishments, content
   53  neutral restrictions or regulations intended to minimize the
   54  secondary harmful effects of those businesses tend to be upheld,
   55  and
   56         WHEREAS, on November 16, 2018, the federal Fifth Circuit
   57  Court of Appeals, in the case of Jane Doe I v. Landry, 909 F.3d
   58  99 (5th Cir. 2018), upheld a Louisiana law that prohibited
   59  establishments licensed to serve alcohol from employing nearly
   60  nude entertainers younger than 21 years of age on the grounds
   61  that the law furthered the state’s interests in curbing human
   62  trafficking and prostitution, and
   63         WHEREAS, the federal district court in Valadez v. Paxton,
   64  553 F.Supp.3d 387 (W.D. Tex. 2021), denied a motion for a
   65  preliminary injunction against the enforcement of Texas Senate
   66  Bill 315 prohibiting “all working relationships between 18-20
   67  year-olds and sexually-oriented businesses” because the
   68  plaintiffs failed to show that the age restrictions were not
   69  rationally related to the state’s interest in curbing human
   70  trafficking, and
   71         WHEREAS, the federal district court in DC Operating, LLC v.
   72  Paxton, 586 F.Supp.3d 554 (W.D. Tex. 2022), denied a motion for
   73  a preliminary injunction against Texas Senate Bill 315, at least
   74  in part, because of the state’s evidence of the correlation
   75  between raising the minimum employment age and reducing human
   76  trafficking, and
   77         WHEREAS, the federal district court in Wacko’s Too, Inc.,
   78  v. City of Jacksonville, 658 F.Supp.3d 1086 (M.D. Fla. 2023),
   79  upheld age restrictions in a City of Jacksonville ordinance
   80  requiring performers at adult entertainment establishments to be
   81  at least 21 years of age based, at least in part, on evidence
   82  that there was a reasonable basis to believe that the age
   83  restrictions would further the city’s interest in preventing
   84  human and sex trafficking, NOW, THEREFORE,
   85  
   86  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   87  
   88         Section 1. Section 562.13, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   89  read:
   90         562.13 Employment of minors or certain other persons by
   91  certain vendors prohibited; exceptions.—
   92         (1) Unless otherwise provided in this section, it is
   93  unlawful for any vendor licensed under the Beverage Law to
   94  employ any person under 18 years of age.
   95         (2) This section shall not apply to:
   96         (a) Professional entertainers 17 years of age who are not
   97  in school.
   98         (b) Minors employed in the entertainment industry, as
   99  defined by s. 450.012(5), who have either been granted a waiver
  100  under s. 450.095 or employed under the terms of s. 450.132 or
  101  under rules adopted pursuant to either of these sections.
  102         (c) Persons under the age of 18 years who are employed in
  103  drugstores, grocery stores, department stores, florists,
  104  specialty gift shops, or automobile service stations which have
  105  obtained licenses to sell beer or beer and wine, when such sales
  106  are made for consumption off the premises.
  107         (d) Persons 17 years of age or over or any person
  108  furnishing evidence that he or she is a senior high school
  109  student with written permission of the principal of said senior
  110  high school or that he or she is a senior high school graduate,
  111  or any high school graduate, employed by a bona fide food
  112  service establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold,
  113  provided such persons do not participate in the sale,
  114  preparation, or service of the beverages and that their duties
  115  are of such nature as to provide them with training and
  116  knowledge as might lead to further advancement in food service
  117  establishments.
  118         (e) Persons under the age of 18 years employed as bellhops,
  119  elevator operators, and others in hotels when such employees are
  120  engaged in work apart from the portion of the hotel property
  121  where alcoholic beverages are offered for sale for consumption
  122  on the premises.
  123         (f) Persons under the age of 18 years employed in bowling
  124  alleys in which alcoholic beverages are sold or consumed, so
  125  long as such minors do not participate in the sale, preparation,
  126  or service of such beverages.
  127         (g) Persons under the age of 18 years employed by a bona
  128  fide dinner theater as defined in this paragraph, as long as
  129  their employment is limited to the services of an actor,
  130  actress, or musician. For the purposes of this paragraph, a
  131  dinner theater means a theater presenting consecutive
  132  productions playing no less than 3 weeks each in conjunction
  133  with dinner service on a regular basis. In addition, both events
  134  must occur in the same room, and the only advertised price of
  135  admission must include both the cost of the meal and the
  136  attendance at the performance.
  137         (h) Persons under the age of 18 years who are employed in
  138  places of business licensed under s. 565.02(6), provided such
  139  persons do not participate in the sale, preparation, or service
  140  of alcoholic beverages.
  141  
  142  However, a minor who qualifies for one of the exceptions in this
  143  subsection to whom this subsection otherwise applies may not be
  144  employed as or perform if the employment, whether as a
  145  professional entertainer or otherwise if such employment,
  146  involves nudity, as defined in s. 847.001, on the part of the
  147  minor and such nudity is intended as a form of adult
  148  entertainment, or be employed by an adult entertainment
  149  establishment, as defined in s. 847.001.
  150         (3)(a) It is unlawful for any vendor licensed under the
  151  beverage law to employ as a manager or person in charge or as a
  152  bartender any person:
  153         1. Who has been convicted within the last past 5 years of
  154  any offense against the beverage laws of this state, the United
  155  States, or any other state.
  156         2. Who has been convicted within the last past 5 years in
  157  this state or any other state or the United States of soliciting
  158  for prostitution, pandering, letting premises for prostitution,
  159  keeping a disorderly place, or any felony violation of chapter
  160  893 or the controlled substances act of any other state or the
  161  Federal Government.
  162         3. Who has, in the last past 5 years, been convicted of any
  163  felony in this state, any other state, or the United States.
  164  
  165  The term “conviction” shall include an adjudication of guilt on
  166  a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or forfeiture of a bond when
  167  such person is charged with a crime.
  168         (b) This subsection shall not apply to any vendor licensed
  169  under the provisions of s. 563.02(1)(a) or s. 564.02(1)(a).
  170         Section 2. Section 787.30, Florida Statutes, is created to
  171  read:
  172         787.30Employing persons under the age of 21 years in adult
  173  entertainment establishments prohibited.—
  174         (1)As used in this section, the term:
  175         (a)“Adult entertainment establishment” has the same
  176  meaning as in s. 847.001.
  177         (b)“Nude” means the showing of the human male or female
  178  genitals, pubic area, or buttock with less than a fully opaque
  179  covering; or the showing of the female breast with less than a
  180  fully opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of
  181  the nipple; or the depiction of covered male genitals in a
  182  discernibly turgid state. A mother’s breastfeeding of her baby
  183  does not under any circumstance constitute nudity, regardless of
  184  whether the nipple is covered during or incidental to feeding.
  185         (2)(a)Except as provided in paragraph (b), an owner, a
  186  manager, an employee, or a contractor of an adult entertainment
  187  establishment who knowingly employs, contracts with, contracts
  188  with another person to employ, or otherwise permits a person
  189  younger than 21 years of age to perform or work in an adult
  190  entertainment establishment commits a misdemeanor of the first
  191  degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
  192         (b)An owner, a manager, an employee, or a contractor of an
  193  adult entertainment establishment who knowingly employs,
  194  contracts with, contracts with another person to employ, or
  195  otherwise permits a person younger than 21 years of age to
  196  perform or work while nude in an adult entertainment
  197  establishment commits a felony of the second degree, punishable
  198  as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
  199         (3)An owner, a manager, an employee, or a contractor of an
  200  adult entertainment establishment who permits a person to
  201  perform as an entertainer or work in any capacity for the
  202  establishment shall carefully check the person’s driver license
  203  or identification card issued by this state or another state of
  204  the United States, a passport, or a United States Uniformed
  205  Services identification card presented by the person and act in
  206  good faith and in reliance upon the representation and
  207  appearance of the person in the belief that the person is 21
  208  years of age or older.
  209         (4) For purposes of this section, a person’s ignorance of
  210  another person’s age or a person’s misrepresentation of his or
  211  her age may not be raised as a defense in a prosecution for a
  212  violation of this section.
  213         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.