Senator Andre Jacque is taking aim at human trafficking with his latest bill.
The measure is known as the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, and is co-sponsored by members of both political parties.
This bill is modeled after a current state law that is in place in both Florida and Washington and will, as the De Pere Senator says, “attack the growing scourge of human trafficking in Wisconsin.”
A big part of that will be a mandatory $5,000 surcharge on individuals convicted of patronizing/soliciting prostitutes or keeping a place of prostitution.
Jacque explained that, “This change has been suggested by investigators, prosecutors, and victims’ support and advocacy groups as a means to address present penalties for soliciting prostitution which provides an insufficient deterrent, citing a high incidence of repeat solicitation offenses by many individuals with enough disposable income to quietly pay existing fines.”
This proposal has passed committees in both legislative chambers on a unanimous or broad bi-partisan basis several times, including the 2019-’20 session, when it passed the full State Senate on a 32-0 vote.
Gov. Evers publicly indicated his support for the identical bill in a prior session in a letter to the legislature.
