Arizona 2023 2023 Regular Session

Arizona House Bill HB2169 Comm Sub / Analysis

Filed 05/22/2023

                      	HB 2169 
Initials JL 	Page 1 	Transmitted to the Governor 
 
ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Fifty-sixth Legislature 
First Regular Session 
House: JUD DP 4-3-1-0 | 3
rd
 Read DPA 41-19-0-0-0 
Senate: JUD DPA/SE 6-1-0-0 | 3
rd
 Read DPA 30-0-0-0-0 
 
HB 2169: sexual conduct; minor; classification; sentence 
S/E: child sex doll; exploitation 
Sponsor: Representative Nguyen, LD 1 
Transmitted to the Governor 
Overview 
An emergency measure that establishes new class 4 felony criminal offenses of possessing a 
child sex doll, trafficking a child sex doll and importing a child sex doll, and changes existing class 
2 felony offense of sexual exploitation of a minor to include conduct involving child sex dolls that 
use the face, image or likeness of a real infant or minor under the age of 12.  
History 
Under current law, a person commits sexual exploitation of a minor by knowingly:  
1) Recording, filming, photographing, developing or duplicating any visual depiction in which 
a minor is engaged in exploitive exhibition or other sexual conduct; or  
2) Distributing, transporting, exhibiting, receiving, selling, purchasing, electronically 
transmitting, possessing or exchanging any visual depiction in which a minor is engaged 
in exploitive exhibition or other sexual conduct.  
Sexual exploitation of a minor is a class 2 felony and is punishable as a dangerous crime against 
children (DCAC) if the minor is under 15 years of age (A.R.S. § 13-3553). DCACs are a category 
of criminal offenses that may be treated differently when they involve a defendant who is at least 
18 years old (or tried as an adult) and a victim who is below 15 years old (or an unborn child). 
Statute specifies numerous offenses that may be punishable as a DCAC, meaning that they can 
be subject to increased prison sentences and special provisions regarding the defendant's 
eligibility for probation or early release (A.R.S. § 13-705).  
The culpable mental states that are used throughout the criminal code, including knowingly and 
intentionally (or with intent to) are defined in statute (A.R.S. § 13-105).  
The following states have enacted criminal statutes directed at child-like sex dolls: 
1) Florida (Fla. Stat. § 847.011); 
2) Hawaii (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 712-1216.5); 
3) South Dakota (S.D. Codified Laws § 22-24A-1.1); 
4) Tennessee (Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-910); and 
5) Utah (Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-1236). 
Provisions 
1. Establishes the criminal offense of possessing a child sex doll, a class 4 felony, which a 
person commits by intentionally or knowingly possessing a child sex doll. (Sec. 1)  
2. Creates the criminal offense of trafficking a child sex doll, a class 4 felony, which a person 
commits by knowingly manufacturing, distributing, selling, transferring, offering to sell, 
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes)     ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes)      ☒ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note    	HB 2169 
Initials JL 	Page 2 	Transmitted to the Governor 
advertising, providing, shipping, delivering for shipment, offering to deliver for shipment or 
possessing with the intent to manufacture, distribute, sell, ship or transfer a child sex doll. 
(Sec. 1) 
3. Specifies that, in a prosecution for trafficking a child sex doll, unless satisfactorily explained, 
the possession of two or more child sex dolls may give rise to an inference that a person 
intends to commit trafficking a child sex doll. (Sec. 1) 
4. Establishes the criminal offense of importing a child sex doll, a class 4 felony, which a person 
commits by knowingly transporting a child sex doll into Arizona by any means with the intent 
to distribute, sell or transfer the child sex doll. (Sec. 1) 
5. Exempts from the above criminal offenses a common carrier transporting a container with a 
child sex doll if the common carrier does not have knowledge of the container's contents. 
(Sec. 1) 
6. On or before December 31, 2024 and each year thereafter, requires the Administrative Office 
of the Courts to submit a report to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the Minority Leaders of both bodies that lists, by county, the total number 
of persons who have been convicted of the offenses listed above. (Sec. 1) 
7. Adds that a person can commit the existing class 2 felony offense of sexual exploitation of a 
minor by knowingly possessing, manufacturing, distributing, advertising, ordering, offering to 
sell, selling or purchasing a child sex doll that uses the face, image or likeness of a real infant 
or minor under the age of 12 with the intent to replicate the physical features of the real infant 
or minor. (Sec. 2) 
8. For purposes of the above criminal offenses, defines child sex doll as an anatomically correct 
doll, mannequin or robot that both: 
a) Has the features of or features that resemble those of an infant or a child who is under 12 
years old; and 
b) Is intended to be used for sexual stimulation or gratification. (Sec. 1) 
9. Contains an emergency clause. (Sec. 3)