No. HB 257
Filed under Healthcare.
Penalties for Prostitution and Related Acts; Increases penalties for certain offenses.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDA first violation of Florida's prostitution law becomes a third-degree felony, up from a second-degree misdemeanor. Second and third-or-subsequent violations rise similarly, and a separate, lighter penalty schedule that applied to one category of violation is repealed.
People charged with a third or subsequent violation lose a guaranteed offer of pretrial intervention or substance-abuse treatment. That option is deleted outright, leaving felony prosecution as the only path forward for repeat offenders.
A third or subsequent violation connected to a licensed massage establishment now becomes a life felony, up from a second-degree felony. Health care practitioners can also face immediate license suspension for an arrest under the broader, renumbered statute.
Massage establishment owners and managers are no longer disqualified by an out-of-state misdemeanor conviction related to prostitution. Only felony convictions, under a specific new list of qualifying statutes, now trigger that disqualification.
AIA first violation of the general prostitution offense becomes a felony of the third degree, replacing what is currently a misdemeanor of the second degree. Second and third-or-subsequent violations also move up one tier, ending in a felony of the first degree.
AIAnyone charged with a third or subsequent violation currently must be offered admission to a pretrial intervention program or a substance-abuse treatment program. That guarantee is deleted, with no replacement offered in its place.
AIWhen a violation tied to a licensed massage establishment is a third or subsequent offense, it is reclassified upward from a felony of the second degree to a life felony, Florida's most severe non-capital classification.
AIThe exception that gave one specific category of violation, listed under paragraph (2)(f), its own separate and different penalty schedule is removed, along with that separate schedule itself. All violations of the section now share the same felony ladder.
AIA health care practitioner's emergency license suspension used to require an arrest specifically for what would be a third-or-subsequent-violation felony under the old numbering. The updated citation now points to Section 796.07 as a whole, covering any tier of violation.
AIThe broad disqualification for any misdemeanor or felony conviction related to prostitution is removed from massage establishment licensing. In its place, only a felony conviction under a specific list of statutes, including a new entry for Section 796.07, now disqualifies.