HLS 21RS-3077 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 136
BY REPRESENTATIVE JAMES
CRIME/PROSTITUTION: Creates a study commission to gather facts on prostitution-
related crimes by parish as well as alternatives offered and public health concerns
1 A RESOLUTION
2To create the Commission on Prostitution-Related Crimes to study prostitution-related
3 crimes by parish as well as alternatives offered and related public health concerns
4 and to report its findings to the legislature.
5 WHEREAS, a humane and effective justice system is a necessary predicate for a
6functioning and healthy democracy; and
7 WHEREAS, as recently as the early 1970s, the United States had an incarceration
8rate on par with most other Western democracies and while their crime rates today are at
9nearly identical levels, America's incarceration rate is five times higher; and
10 WHEREAS, nearly five million people are arrested and jailed in the United States
11every year; one in two women in prison are incarcerated as a result of nonviolent offenses
12and nearly two-thirds are confined in jails due to an inability to afford cash bail; and
13 WHEREAS, by decriminalizing behavior that does not require confinement and
14addressing structural inequities that impede the safety, dignity, and well-being of all
15individuals, especially those most vulnerable to discrimination on the basis of race, gender
16identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, and citizenship,
17the amount of incarcerations would be reduced drastically.
18 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
19Legislature of Louisiana does hereby create the Commission on Prostitution-Related Crimes
20to study prostitution-related crimes by parish as well as alternatives offered and related
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HR NO. 136
1public health concerns and to report its findings to the legislature prior to December 31,
22022.
3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the commission shall meet in person or through
4video conference at least four times, the meetings shall commence no later than September
51, 2022, and notice of such meetings shall be given one week prior to meeting.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the commission shall be composed of the
7following members, a majority of which shall constitute a quorum, with two co-chairs to be
8elected by the majority of the members at the first meeting:
9 (1) The chairman of the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice,
10or his designee.
11 (2) The author of House Bill No. 67 of the 2021 Regular Session of the Legislature,
12or his designee.
13 (3) A representative from the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office appointed by
14the district attorney.
15 (4) A representative from the New Orleans Police Department.
16 (5) A representative from the Louisiana Department of Health appointed by the
17secretary of the department.
18 (6) The former director of the Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force.
19 (7) Two representatives from Women With a Vision, Inc.
20 (8) A representative from the Sex Worker Advisory Committee.
21 (9) A representative from the New Orleans Family Justice Center.
22 (10) A representative from the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network.
23 (11) A representative from the American Civil Liberties Union.
24 (12) A representative from Louisiana Survivors for Reform.
25 (13) A representative from Access Health Louisiana.
26 (14) A representative from Transcending Women.
27 (15) A representative from the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center.
28 (16) A representative from Sex Workers Outreach Project-Shreveport.
29 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to each
30member of the commission.
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HR NO. 136
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Commission on Prostitution-Related Crimes
2shall submit one print copy and one electronic copy of any report produced pursuant to this
3Resolution to the David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library as required by R.S. 24:772.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 136 Original 2021 Regular Session James
Creates the Commission on Prostitution-Related Crimes to study prostitution-related crimes
by parish as well as alternatives offered and related public health concerns and to report its
findings to the legislature.
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