Foundation analysis · Human Rights Strengthening
Foundation draft · Not enacted law
A regulated framework for consensual adult intimate work that distinguishes lawful adult activity from trafficking and coercion while establishing worker rights, safety standards, privacy safeguards, licensing, taxation, and survivor support.
Safety, Equity, eXpression, and Yearning Act
Legislative submission draft · 13,758 words · 15 titles
Foundation model docket. Identifiers and proposed referrals are internal and are not official congressional or legislative assignments.
A guide to this proposal
The act approaches a stigmatized field through safety and rights: adult autonomy, anti-trafficking enforcement, noncoercion, confidential reporting, health access, labor protections, privacy, licensing, and accountable platforms.
Analysis is commentary. Model text is a proposal. Fiscal scenarios, where provided, are illustrative.
Foundation Analysis
The draft legalizes consensual adult intimate work under licensing, consent, labor, health, privacy, platform, anti-trafficking, survivor-support, due-process, tax, and local-zoning rules.
In plain language: The act approaches a stigmatized field through safety and rights: adult autonomy, anti-trafficking enforcement, noncoercion, confidential reporting, health access, labor protections, privacy, licensing, and accountable platforms.
Its defining choice is a sharp statutory separation between lawful consensual adult activity and conduct involving minors, coercion, trafficking, or nonconsensual content. Confidential worker certification, affirmative revocable consent, and nonwaivable worker rights anchor the model.
A new eleven-member commission, confidential certifications, inspections, platform compliance, privacy-preserving age verification, local zoning, survivor infrastructure, and the transition between regulated and unregulated markets would require substantial State capacity.
This is a model State bill, so it requires jurisdiction-specific code and conforming amendments. Speech and privacy, age verification, local zoning, platform takedowns, worker classification, due process, and penalty proportionality all require current State and federal constitutional review.
The draft creates a four-percent gross-receipts excise for licensed businesses and platforms and a one-percent rate for small worker cooperatives, then allocates revenue by percentage. It supplies no market baseline, revenue estimate, or program-cost score.
the packet offers a thoughtful safety-and-rights architecture. An introduction-ready State bill would need jurisdiction-specific conforming amendments, privacy-preserving verification standards, a licensing capacity and cost model, anti-trafficking interoperability, and current constitutional review.
Model State legislation for policy development; not enacted law or legal advice. Analysis reflects the supplied July 2026 packet and should be refreshed against current law before legislative use.
Full Text
Read the legislation.
LEGISLATIVE SUBMISSION DRAFT
Safety, Equity, eXpression, and Yearning Act
| Chamber | [House / Senate] |
|---|---|
| Sponsor | [Insert sponsor] |
| Committee | [Insert committee or referral] |
| Congress / Session | [Insert Congress and session] |
| Date | [Insert filing date] |
| Source treatment | Substantive bill language preserved from the attached draft. |
Submission note: this packet is formatted for legislative review. Bracketed cover-page fields should be completed before filing; the bill text itself is not substantively rewritten here.
Safety, Equity, eXpression, and Yearning Act
An Act concerning consensual adult intimate work; legalizing and regulating adult intimate services and related businesses; establishing worker rights, client responsibilities, health and safety standards, licensing, taxation, advertising rules, platform obligations, privacy protections, anti-trafficking safeguards, anti-harassment and anti-violence protections, survivor services, due-process protections, enforcement mechanisms, local zoning standards, transition rules, and periodic legislative review.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the “Safety, Equity, eXpression, and Yearning Act” or the “SEXY Act.”
The Legislature finds that:
1. Adults have rights to bodily autonomy, personal security, privacy, freedom from violence, freedom from coercion, equal protection, and fair labor conditions.
2. Criminalization of consensual adult intimate work has historically impeded reporting of violence, trafficking, wage theft, assault, extortion, stalking, harassment, and exploitation.
3. Legalization without regulation may permit unsafe establishments, opaque ownership, abusive management arrangements, trafficking concealment, financial coercion, unsafe premises, unlawful recording, and community disruption.
4. The State has a compelling interest in preventing sexual assault, trafficking, exploitation of minors, coercion, stalking, nonconsensual recording and distribution of intimate content, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and unsafe business practices.
5. The State also has substantial interests in public health, occupational safety, transparent business regulation, consumer protection, tax compliance, data privacy, worker autonomy, and community stability.
6. Consensual adult intimate work is categorically distinct from trafficking, coercion, exploitation, sexual assault, abuse of minors, nonconsensual intimate conduct, and unlawful recording or distribution of intimate content.
7. A lawful and regulated framework can improve safety by bringing businesses into the open, protecting workers and clients, creating reporting channels, funding survivor services, and allowing enforcement to focus on coercion, violence, trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.
8. The State shall regulate adult intimate work without moral stigma, viewpoint discrimination, arbitrary exclusion, or unnecessary intrusion into private lawful adult conduct.
The purposes of this Act are to:
1. legalize consensual adult intimate work under a regulated framework;
2. protect adult intimate workers’ autonomy, safety, labor rights, health, privacy, and freedom from discrimination;
3. protect clients, content participants, consumers, and community members through transparent rules, privacy safeguards, truthful advertising, and accountability;
4. prevent and punish trafficking, coercion, exploitation, sexual violence, harassment, stalking, retaliation, nonconsensual recording, nonconsensual distribution of intimate content, and abuse of power;
5. create confidential, accessible, nonpunitive reporting and survivor-support systems;
6. ensure fair investigations, due process, confidentiality, and protection against knowingly false or malicious claims;
7. regulate establishments, agencies, platforms, content distributors, advertising, ownership, taxation, and local land use;
8. preserve public health through voluntary, confidential, nonstigmatizing healthcare access and evidence-based occupational safety standards;
9. prevent unregulated market proliferation while prohibiting local governments from using zoning or licensing to functionally ban lawful adult intimate work;
10. dedicate revenue to worker health, survivor services, anti-trafficking enforcement, legal aid, public education, inspections, and community impact mitigation.
For purposes of this Act:
1. “Adult” means an individual who is at least 18 years of age.
2. “Adult intimate work” means the consensual provision, facilitation, advertising, management, production, distribution, or purchase of adult intimate services or adult intimate content for remuneration, when conducted in compliance with this Act.
3. “Adult intimate service” means an in-person service provided by an adult to another adult for remuneration that involves consensual intimate physical contact, erotic entertainment, adult companionship with intimate conduct, or other adult conduct made lawful by this Act. The term does not include sexual assault, trafficking, coercion, exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual conduct, unlawful recording, or conduct otherwise prohibited by this Act.
4. “Adult intimate worker” or “worker” means an adult who personally provides adult intimate services or participates as a performer, model, creator, or subject in adult intimate content for remuneration.
5. “Adult intimate establishment” means a fixed physical premises at which adult intimate services are offered, arranged, performed, or facilitated.
6. “Agency” means a person that arranges, schedules, markets, books, refers, manages, or processes payment for adult intimate services performed by workers who are not owners of that person.
7. “Affirmative consent” means a knowing, voluntary, informed, specific, ongoing, and revocable agreement to engage in a particular act or service. Consent may be communicated by words or clear conduct, but silence, passivity, prior relationship, prior work, prior consent, payment, employment status, intoxication, fear, coercion, or failure to resist does not establish consent.
8. “Bad-faith claim” means a claim made knowingly and intentionally with material falsity and with the purpose of causing unlawful harm. A claim is not bad faith merely because it is unsubstantiated, withdrawn, inconsistently remembered, partially corroborated, difficult to prove, delayed, or rejected by an agency or court.
9. “Biometric data” means data generated by automated or manual measurement of biological, physical, behavioral, or physiological characteristics, including facial geometry, fingerprint, voiceprint, iris or retina scan, gait, or other unique biological identifiers.
10. “Client” or “receiver” means an adult who purchases, seeks to purchase, receives, or seeks to receive adult intimate services or adult intimate content.
11. “Coercion” means any act, threat, scheme, plan, pattern, pressure, or abuse of power that causes or attempts to cause a person to provide, continue, record, distribute, advertise, facilitate, or purchase adult intimate services or content without affirmative consent, including:
12. force, threat of force, restraint, kidnapping, confinement, or surveillance;
13. threat of serious harm to any person;
14. fraud, deception, impersonation, or concealment of material terms;
15. abuse or threatened abuse of law, immigration process, child-custody process, criminal process, licensing process, housing process, employment process, or debt-collection process;
16. withholding, confiscating, destroying, or threatening to withhold, confiscate, or destroy identification documents, immigration documents, phones, medication, mobility aids, wages, money, keys, transportation, or personal property;
17. debt bondage, quotas, unlawful fees, manipulated debts, or threats related to debt;
18. exploiting intoxication, incapacity, disability, dependency, homelessness, immigration vulnerability, economic desperation, caregiving dependency, or institutional authority;
19. threats of outing, blacklisting, doxxing, public exposure, loss of housing, loss of custody, loss of employment, reputational harm, or withdrawal of essential support;
20. retaliation for refusing, reporting, leaving, seeking healthcare, seeking legal advice, joining a worker organization, or cooperating with an investigation.
21. “Commercial adult intimate content” means a visual, audiovisual, digital, live-streamed, photographic, audio, written, virtual, synthetic, or interactive depiction or performance of adult intimate conduct that is produced, hosted, distributed, sold, licensed, advertised, monetized, or otherwise made available for commercial gain.
22. “Commission” means the Adult Intimate Work Regulation Commission established by this Act.
23. “Content distributor” means a person that commercially distributes, hosts, sells, licenses, streams, publishes, transmits, or monetizes adult intimate content.
24. “Covered platform” means an internet website, application, marketplace, listing service, advertising network, payment-integrated service, subscription service, live-streaming service, content-hosting service, or other digital service that knowingly facilitates, advertises, hosts, monetizes, or distributes adult intimate work or adult intimate content in or directed to this State.
25. “Emergency protective order” means a civil order issued by a court or authorized judicial officer to protect a person from immediate or continuing risk of harassment, stalking, coercion, exploitation, retaliation, assault, nonconsensual recording, nonconsensual distribution, trafficking, or threats.
26. “Exploitation” means obtaining labor, services, content, payment, sexual conduct, access, or anything of value through coercion, fraud, abuse of power, unlawful debt, retaliation, or taking unfair advantage of a person’s vulnerability.
27. “Harassment” means unwelcome verbal, physical, digital, visual, economic, or other conduct that is based on a protected characteristic, participation in adult intimate work, refusal of services, reporting, cooperation with enforcement, or exercise of rights under this Act, and that creates a hostile environment, interferes with work or access to services, or conditions any benefit, license, payment, opportunity, housing, safety, or access on submission to such conduct.
28. “Intimate content” means a recording, image, depiction, data file, livestream, synthetic media, or other content that depicts or purports to depict a person’s nudity, intimate body parts, sexual conduct, adult intimate service, or circumstances reasonably understood as private and intimate.
29. “Local government” means a county, city, town, village, borough, parish, municipality, consolidated government, special district, or other political subdivision of this State.
30. “Operator” means a person that owns, controls, manages, finances, directs, or substantially participates in the operation of an adult intimate establishment, agency, production business, content distributor, or covered platform.
31. “Protected characteristic” means actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, age, disability, neurodivergence, HIV or health status, genetic information, marital status, family status, immigration status, citizenship status, language, housing status, economic status, occupation, lawful participation in adult intimate work, appearance, body size, prior criminal record unrelated to current safety, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal civil-rights law.
32. “Retaliation” means any adverse action, threat, coercion, intimidation, harassment, blacklisting, doxxing, immigration threat, adverse licensing action, denial of services, reduction of work, economic penalty, reputational harm, violence, or other harm because a person exercised, attempted to exercise, supported, or opposed interference with rights under this Act.
33. “Sexual violence” means sexual assault, nonconsensual intimate contact, nonconsensual penetration, stalking with sexual purpose, coerced intimate conduct, nonconsensual recording or distribution of intimate content, trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of a minor, or any attempt, conspiracy, or threat to commit such conduct.
34. “Trafficking” means recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, obtaining, maintaining, advertising, patronizing, soliciting, managing, or benefiting from adult intimate work or commercial sexual conduct through coercion, force, fraud, threats, abuse of law or legal process, or involving a minor.
35. “Worker-controlled cooperative” means an entity owned and democratically controlled by adult intimate workers, in which each worker-member has meaningful governance rights, transparent access to financial records, and the right to refuse clients, services, recording, distribution, or work without penalty.
1. This Act applies to adult intimate work occurring in this State, offered to a person located in this State, operated by a person domiciled or doing business in this State, or involving a license issued under this Act.
2. This Act shall not be construed to:
1. legalize, excuse, or reduce penalties for trafficking, coercion, sexual assault, abuse of a minor, child sexual abuse material, nonconsensual recording, nonconsensual distribution of intimate content, stalking, harassment, extortion, retaliation, money laundering, wage theft, assault, or unlawful confinement;
2. diminish any person’s right to refuse or withdraw consent;
3. require any person to provide or receive adult intimate services;
4. create a property right in another person’s body, labor, consent, image, likeness, data, location, work schedule, or intimate content;
5. authorize local governments to prohibit adult intimate work through pretextual zoning, licensing, fees, moratoria, or density rules;
6. impose liability on an interactive computer service in a manner preempted by federal law;
7. limit federal anti-trafficking, child-protection, obscenity, communications-privacy, civil-rights, labor, tax, immigration, or nonconsensual intimate-image law.
3. Rights under this Act are nonwaivable. A contract, policy, platform term, release, settlement, arbitration agreement, nondisclosure agreement, non-disparagement clause, or other instrument that waives or limits a right under this Act is void as against public policy to the extent of the waiver or limitation.
1. An adult may lawfully provide, purchase, facilitate, advertise, manage, produce, distribute, or receive adult intimate work only as authorized by this Act.
2. An adult intimate worker who provides services independently shall hold a confidential worker certification issued under Section 301.
3. A person shall not operate an adult intimate establishment, agency, covered platform, content production business, or content distribution business unless licensed or certified under this Act.
4. A client shall not purchase or attempt to purchase adult intimate services unless the client:
1. is an adult;
2. provides age verification as required by rule;
3. receives and acknowledges a client-rights and responsibilities notice;
4. respects all service boundaries and consent rules;
5. complies with health, safety, privacy, recording, and anti-harassment rules.
5. A worker’s failure to hold a current confidential certification shall not constitute a criminal offense. The Commission may issue a civil warning, provide certification assistance, and impose a civil administrative penalty only after notice, safe-harbor opportunity, and a finding that the worker knowingly and repeatedly refused certification without good cause.
A person shall not:
1. involve, recruit, entice, harbor, transport, advertise, patronize, solicit, facilitate, or benefit from a minor in adult intimate work or commercial sexual conduct;
2. use coercion, force, fraud, intimidation, threats, restraint, intoxication-based exploitation, incapacity-based exploitation, dependency-based exploitation, debt bondage, abuse of authority, or economic coercion to cause or attempt to cause adult intimate work;
3. knowingly purchase or attempt to purchase adult intimate services from a person the purchaser knows, reasonably should know, or consciously avoids knowing is a minor, coerced, trafficked, incapacitated, or not affirmatively consenting;
4. operate, finance, manage, or profit from an unlicensed adult intimate establishment, agency, covered platform, content production business, or content distribution business;
5. knowingly advertise unlawful adult intimate work, services involving a minor, coerced services, nonconsensual services, services outside the scope of licensure, or content lacking required consent;
6. record, livestream, photograph, store, sell, publish, distribute, transmit, alter, synthesize, or monetize intimate content without written, specific, informed, and revocable consent as required by this Act;
7. retaliate against a worker, client, survivor, witness, advocate, healthcare provider, regulator, inspector, or other person for exercising rights under this Act;
8. confiscate, withhold, destroy, or control another person’s identification documents, immigration documents, medication, mobility aids, wages, money, keys, transportation, phone, communications device, or personal property;
9. impose a quota, debt, fee, fine, penalty, noncompete, lock-in, liquidated-damages clause, minimum-client requirement, minimum-act requirement, mandatory substance-use requirement, mandatory appearance alteration, or any condition that restricts withdrawal from adult intimate work;
10. permit cameras, audio recording, hidden recording devices, biometric surveillance, or live monitoring in a room or area where adult intimate services occur, except when commercial content is being produced with express written consent from every participant and in compliance with Title VIII;
11. use licensing, inspection, law enforcement, immigration authority, housing authority, employment authority, child-custody authority, public-benefits authority, or medical authority to exploit, threaten, or coerce a person;
12. use client or worker privacy protections to conceal, facilitate, or retaliate for trafficking, assault, stalking, coercion, exploitation, nonconsensual recording, or other unlawful conduct.
1. A minor is categorically prohibited from providing, purchasing, facilitating, advertising, managing, producing, distributing, or being depicted in adult intimate work.
2. A person shall not hold an operator, manager, agency, establishment, content production, content distribution, or platform license if the person:
1. has been convicted, within the prior 15 years, of trafficking, sexual assault, commercial sexual exploitation of a minor, child sexual abuse material, kidnapping, extortion, forced labor, involuntary servitude, stalking involving sexual conduct, felony domestic violence, money laundering related to exploitation, or a substantially similar offense;
2. is currently subject to a court order barring participation in such business;
3. has knowingly submitted materially false ownership, financial, safety, or consent-verification records;
4. has had a license revoked under this Act within the prior 10 years for coercion, trafficking, retaliation, or severe safety violations;
5. is acting as a nominee, shell, undisclosed beneficial owner, or straw owner for an ineligible person.
3. The Commission may adopt rules allowing individualized review, rehabilitation evidence, and limited waivers for nonviolent offenses unrelated to exploitation, sexual violence, fraud, worker safety, money laundering, or minors.
1. For 18 months after the first date on which worker certification is available, no adult intimate worker shall be prosecuted, fined, detained, or subjected to adverse licensing action solely for providing consensual adult intimate services without certification.
2. During the transition period, law enforcement and regulators shall refer adult workers to certification, legal aid, healthcare, and support services rather than arrest or prosecution, unless there is probable cause of trafficking, coercion, sexual assault, exploitation of a minor, serious violence, or nonconsensual recording or distribution.
3. A person shall be eligible for vacatur, sealing, expungement, or redesignation of a prior state or local conviction, adjudication, arrest, or citation for conduct that is lawful under this Act or was committed as a direct result of trafficking, coercion, survival circumstances, or exploitation.
4. Courts shall provide simplified petitions, fee waivers, confidential filing options, and presumptive relief under subsection 3 unless the prosecuting authority proves by clear and convincing evidence that the conviction involved coercion of another person, a minor, serious violence, or trafficking.
1. Adult intimate work is lawful only when all participants give affirmative consent.
2. Consent shall be:
1. specific to each act, service, recording, location, participant, duration, price, and distribution term;
2. informed by accurate material information;
3. ongoing throughout the encounter or production;
4. revocable at any time, by any participant, for any reason or no reason;
5. free from coercion, force, fraud, intimidation, incapacity, or exploitation.
3. Consent to adult intimate work generally does not imply consent to:
1. a particular client;
2. a particular act;
3. a particular location;
4. a particular recording;
5. publication or distribution;
6. physical contact outside agreed boundaries;
7. unprotected or unsafe activity;
8. continued performance after discomfort, fear, injury, distress, intoxication, or withdrawal;
9. disclosure of identity, legal name, location, immigration status, health status, or personal history.
4. Payment, tipping, gifts, employment status, contract language, prior services, relationship status, advertising, appearance, dress, work history, or presence at an establishment shall not establish consent.
1. A worker may refuse any client, service, act, location, recording, distribution, appearance, schedule, assignment, or working condition at any time.
2. A worker may stop an encounter or production immediately upon withdrawal of consent.
3. A client may stop receiving a service at any time.
4. No operator, agency, platform, manager, client, or other person shall penalize, threaten, discipline, reduce pay, blacklist, retaliate against, or impose damages on a person for refusing or withdrawing consent.
5. A worker who withdraws consent shall owe no damages, cancellation penalty, liquidated damages, replacement labor, repayment of ordinary business expenses, or apology statement.
6. Refund policies shall be clear and posted. A refund may be required for prepaid services not provided if the withdrawal occurs before services begin and the client did not engage in misconduct. No refund shall be required when termination occurs because of client harassment, boundary violation, intoxication, coercion, violence, refusal to follow safety rules, recording without consent, or other misconduct.
1. A person lacks capacity to consent when the person is asleep, unconscious, substantially impaired, involuntarily intoxicated, unable to understand the nature of the conduct, unable to communicate consent or refusal, or otherwise legally incapacitated.
2. A person shall not provide, purchase, facilitate, record, or distribute adult intimate services or content involving a participant who lacks capacity.
3. Establishments and agencies shall adopt screening and intervention protocols for intoxication, impairment, fear, coercion, confusion, injury, distress, or inability to consent.
4. Operators shall not sell, promote, require, reward, or condition adult intimate work on alcohol, controlled substances, medication misuse, intoxication, or substance consumption.
1. Every licensed establishment, agency, and content production location shall maintain an emergency response plan that includes:
1. panic systems;
2. worker-controlled emergency signals;
3. rapid separation of participants;
4. secure exits;
5. transportation safety;
6. emergency medical access;
7. law enforcement contact protocols;
8. trauma-informed post-incident support;
9. preservation of evidence when requested by a survivor;
10. nonretaliation protections.
2. A worker, client, employee, contractor, or witness may trigger emergency intervention without being required to disclose private details beyond what is necessary to address immediate safety.
3. An operator shall not discipline or financially penalize a person for triggering emergency intervention in good faith.
1. The Commission shall issue confidential worker certifications to eligible adult intimate workers.
2. A worker certification shall:
1. confirm that the worker is an adult;
2. confirm completion of required rights, consent, safety, privacy, and health training;
3. permit lawful adult intimate work under this Act;
4. be valid for two years;
5. be renewable through a confidential process;
6. be available without a public registry.
3. The Commission shall not publish, sell, disclose, or make searchable worker names, legal names, addresses, identification documents, certification numbers, biometric data, immigration information, health information, work locations, or work histories.
4. A worker may use a professional name, pseudonym, or privacy-preserving credential in all public-facing records, advertisements, platform accounts, receipts, and establishment rosters.
5. The Commission shall not require a criminal background check as a condition of worker certification, except that the Commission may deny or condition certification upon clear and convincing evidence that the applicant is using certification to facilitate trafficking, coercion, sexual assault, exploitation of minors, or a violation of a current court order.
6. Worker certification shall be free. The Commission may charge a replacement credential fee not exceeding $15, waived upon hardship.
7. Training required for worker certification shall be available online and in person, in multiple languages, accessible to persons with disabilities, and shall cover:
1. consent and withdrawal;
2. worker rights;
3. client responsibilities;
4. health and prevention options;
5. emergency procedures;
6. privacy and data rights;
7. reporting options;
8. anti-trafficking indicators;
9. financial and tax rights;
10. anti-harassment and anti-discrimination protections;
11. digital content and recording consent;
12. legal aid and survivor services.
8. Worker certification records shall not be used for immigration enforcement, housing screening, employment screening, credit screening, child-custody determinations, public-benefits determinations, or unrelated criminal investigation, except pursuant to a warrant issued upon probable cause of trafficking, coercion, sexual violence, exploitation of a minor, or other serious offense.
1. No person shall operate an adult intimate establishment, agency, content production business, content distribution business, or covered platform without an operator license.
2. An applicant for an operator license shall submit:
1. legal name, trade names, address, and registered agent;
2. beneficial ownership information for each person owning or controlling 5 percent or more;
3. management structure;
4. criminal-history disclosures for owners, directors, managers, security supervisors, and persons with operational control;
5. financial source-of-funds statement;
6. tax compliance certification;
7. anti-money-laundering plan;
8. worker-rights policy;
9. anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policy;
10. safety plan;
11. privacy and data protection plan;
12. consent-verification procedures;
13. complaint and incident-response procedures;
14. proof of insurance;
15. local zoning compliance certificate or conditional approval;
16. certification that no ineligible person controls the business.
3. The Commission shall conduct background checks only for owners, beneficial owners, directors, managers, security supervisors, and persons exercising operational control.
4. The Commission shall deny an operator license if the applicant fails to meet statutory requirements, knowingly conceals ownership, has a disqualifying conviction under Section 103, lacks a safety plan, lacks financial transparency, or proposes an arrangement that would create substantial risk of coercion, trafficking, wage theft, or unsafe conditions.
5. An operator license shall be valid for two years and renewable upon compliance review.
6. Operator application fees shall be:
1. $2,000 for establishments and agencies;
2. $5,000 for covered platforms, content production businesses, and content distributors;
3. $500 for worker-controlled cooperatives with annual gross receipts under $500,000;
4. reduced or waived for small worker-controlled cooperatives upon hardship and safety compliance.
7. Annual license maintenance fees shall be tiered by gross receipts and shall not exceed:
1. $500 for gross receipts under $250,000;
2. $2,500 for gross receipts of $250,000 to $1,000,000;
3. $7,500 for gross receipts of more than $1,000,000 and not more than $10,000,000;
4. $25,000 for gross receipts over $10,000,000.
8. No operator shall pass licensing, inspection, safety equipment, sanitation, required training, or required legal-compliance fees to workers through deductions, quotas, desk fees, room fees, content fees, penalties, or disguised charges.
1. Each adult intimate establishment shall hold an establishment permit in addition to an operator license.
2. A permit application shall include:
1. site plan;
2. floor plan;
3. secure-entry plan;
4. emergency-exit plan;
5. sanitation plan;
6. accessibility plan;
7. panic-system plan;
8. privacy plan;
9. zoning certificate;
10. community-impact statement;
11. maximum occupancy;
12. security staffing plan;
13. proof of fire, building, health, and occupational-safety compliance.
3. Establishments shall maintain:
1. panic buttons or worker-controlled emergency alerts in every service room;
2. secure exits that workers may use without management permission;
3. clean linens and sanitation supplies;
4. showers or hygiene facilities with hot and cold water when services create foreseeable hygiene needs;
5. barrier-protection supplies at no cost to workers or clients when relevant to health protocols;
6. private changing and rest areas for workers;
7. visible notices of worker rights, client responsibilities, emergency contacts, support services, and complaint channels;
8. secure storage for personal property;
9. adequate lighting in entries, exits, hallways, and parking areas;
10. accessibility accommodations required by law.
4. Cameras may be used only in common areas, entries, exits, payment areas, parking areas, and exterior areas for safety. Cameras, audio recording, hidden devices, or live monitoring are prohibited in service rooms, bathrooms, showers, changing areas, rest areas, medical rooms, and any area where a person reasonably expects intimate privacy.
5. Inspections may occur during business hours upon reasonable notice, except that the Commission may conduct an unannounced inspection upon articulable evidence of imminent safety risk, trafficking, coercion, exploitation of a minor, severe sanitation hazard, or serious labor violation.
6. Inspectors shall not interrupt an intimate service, enter a service room during an encounter except for emergency safety, demand disclosure of client or worker identity without legal authority, photograph intimate areas, seize condoms or health supplies as evidence of wrongdoing, or disclose private participation in lawful adult intimate work.
1. An agency shall obtain an agency license.
2. An agency shall:
1. use written agreements with workers;
2. disclose all fees, commissions, cancellation policies, safety procedures, and payment timing;
3. permit workers to reject any client, service, location, schedule, or assignment without penalty;
4. screen clients through privacy-protective age and safety protocols;
5. provide check-in and emergency response systems;
6. maintain transparent payment records;
7. prohibit noncompete clauses, exclusivity clauses exceeding 30 days, debt obligations, quotas, and document control;
8. provide a complaint channel independent of the person managing bookings;
9. comply with all anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, health, safety, and privacy rules.
3. An agency shall not hold itself out as selling a worker’s consent, access to a worker’s body, a guaranteed service, or any service outside the worker’s specific consent.
1. A covered platform or content distributor doing business in this State shall obtain certification from the Commission.
2. A certified covered platform shall:
1. verify that advertisers and depicted performers are adults;
2. verify that advertisements and content are authorized by the person whose services, image, likeness, voice, biometric data, or intimate content is used;
3. provide a privacy-protective method for age verification of users where required by law;
4. provide a conspicuous abuse, trafficking, nonconsensual-content, and impersonation reporting mechanism;
5. remove unlawful advertisements, unlawful offers, and nonconsensual intimate content as required by this Act;
6. preserve evidence when requested by a survivor, court, or law enforcement with lawful process;
7. train moderation and trust-and-safety staff on trafficking indicators, coercion indicators, minor-safety indicators, consent verification, and privacy;
8. maintain contact points for the Commission, law enforcement, and designated victim-support organizations;
9. publish transparency reports;
10. comply with data minimization, retention, security, and breach-notice requirements.
3. A covered platform shall not knowingly:
1. host or monetize content involving a minor;
2. host or monetize content lacking required consent;
3. permit impersonation of a worker or client;
4. permit advertisements for coerced or trafficked services;
5. sell worker or client location data;
6. use biometric data for advertising, profiling, or unrelated identity matching;
7. retaliate against a person for reporting abuse;
8. suppress reports by designated victim-support organizations.
4. Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose liability on an interactive computer service in a manner preempted by federal law. This section regulates a platform’s own licensing status, commercial practices, verification duties, notice-and-action procedures, recordkeeping, privacy practices, and actual-knowledge response obligations.
1. Operators shall maintain accurate books and records, including gross receipts, payment flows, owner distributions, management fees, commissions, worker compensation, taxes, and large cash transactions.
2. An operator shall not:
1. use nominee ownership to conceal a disqualified person;
2. commingle worker earnings with unrelated accounts;
3. pay wages or compensation through coercive debt ledgers;
4. use shell companies to evade taxes, licensing, labor law, or victim restitution;
5. structure transactions to avoid reporting;
6. accept investment from funds known to derive from trafficking, exploitation, violence, extortion, illegal gambling, controlled-substance trafficking, or money laundering.
3. Cash transactions exceeding $3,000 in one business day shall be recorded in a secure internal ledger containing date, amount, payer identifier, payee identifier, and business purpose. Such records shall be confidential and accessible only to tax authorities, the Commission, or law enforcement pursuant to lawful process.
4. Operators with annual gross receipts exceeding $5,000,000 shall obtain an annual independent financial compliance review.
1. The Commission may issue a notice of violation, compliance order, civil penalty, license condition, suspension, emergency suspension, or revocation.
2. Grounds include:
1. trafficking, coercion, sexual assault, exploitation of a minor, retaliation, or knowing nonconsensual content distribution;
2. repeated failure to maintain safety standards;
3. wage theft or unlawful deductions;
4. unlawful surveillance;
5. unlawful disclosure of identity or data;
6. discriminatory practices;
7. false ownership or financial records;
8. obstruction of investigation;
9. unlicensed operation;
10. failure to report imminent threats, minors, trafficking, or serious violence when required.
3. Except for emergency suspension, the Commission shall provide notice, factual basis, right to respond, right to counsel or representative, evidence access subject to privacy protections, hearing, written decision, and appeal.
4. Emergency suspension may issue only upon probable cause that continued operation creates imminent risk of trafficking, exploitation of a minor, serious bodily harm, widespread coercion, or destruction of evidence. An emergency hearing shall occur within five business days.
Every adult intimate worker has the right to:
1. refuse any client, service, act, location, recording, schedule, or condition;
2. withdraw consent at any time;
3. leave adult intimate work or a particular business at any time;
4. work free from coercion, trafficking, harassment, sexual assault, retaliation, discrimination, stalking, extortion, wage theft, unsafe conditions, unlawful surveillance, and abusive contracts;
5. determine personal boundaries, services offered, client selection, working hours, health decisions, safety practices, professional name, appearance, and content participation;
6. receive timely and transparent compensation;
7. receive itemized statements of pay, fees, deductions, commissions, and tips;
8. retain identification documents, immigration documents, money, phones, keys, medication, personal property, and transportation access;
9. obtain confidential healthcare, legal aid, mental health support, victim advocacy, financial counseling, tax education, and public benefits without stigma or unlawful disclosure;
10. organize, join, or assist a labor organization, worker center, cooperative, or collective representation body;
11. report violations without retaliation;
12. access courts, administrative remedies, protective orders, and survivor services.
1. A worker is presumed to be an employee of an operator, establishment, agency, production business, or platform-affiliated business if the business controls or has the right to control:
1. work schedule;
2. prices;
3. services offered;
4. clients accepted;
5. location;
6. dress or appearance beyond lawful safety rules;
7. performance terms;
8. advertising content;
9. payment collection;
10. discipline;
11. customer lists;
12. access to premises or platform monetization.
2. A worker may be treated as an independent contractor only if:
1. the worker controls clients, schedule, services, boundaries, price, and method of work;
2. the worker may work for others without penalty;
3. the worker may stop work at any time;
4. the worker receives direct and transparent payment;
5. the worker is not subject to quotas, mandatory minimums, noncompetes, or punitive fees;
6. the arrangement is documented in plain language;
7. the classification complies with all generally applicable labor and tax law.
3. Regardless of classification, all workers are entitled to the core rights in Section 401, anti-harassment protections, privacy protections, safety protections, prompt payment, complaint access, nonretaliation, and the right to refuse and withdraw consent.
1. A contract for adult intimate work shall be written in plain language, provided in the worker’s preferred language when reasonably available, and signed before work begins.
2. A contract shall state:
1. parties;
2. license numbers of regulated businesses;
3. worker classification;
4. compensation terms;
5. commissions and fees;
6. pay timing;
7. worker right to refuse and withdraw consent;
8. grievance procedure;
9. privacy protections;
10. health and safety rights;
11. data-retention rules;
12. termination rights;
13. contact information for the Commission, legal aid, worker-support organizations, and survivor services.
3. The following clauses are void:
1. noncompete clauses;
2. forced arbitration clauses covering sexual assault, trafficking, harassment, discrimination, wage theft, retaliation, or nonconsensual content claims;
3. nondisclosure clauses that prevent reporting to regulators, law enforcement, healthcare providers, advocates, courts, or worker organizations;
4. liquidated damages for refusing or stopping work;
5. mandatory quotas;
6. repayment of training, housing, travel, safety, licensing, sanitation, advertising, or ordinary business costs;
7. consent to unspecified future acts, clients, locations, recordings, or distributions;
8. ownership transfer of a worker’s body, likeness, legal identity, biometric data, location data, or private communications;
9. perpetual use of intimate content without periodic renewal rights and takedown procedures required by this Act.
1. Workers shall be paid at least the minimum wage and overtime required by law when classified as employees.
2. Workers shall receive all tips, gratuities, and designated worker payments, except for a disclosed processing fee not exceeding the actual payment-processing cost.
3. A business shall not deduct or charge workers for:
1. licensing;
2. safety equipment;
3. sanitation supplies;
4. barrier-protection supplies required by law;
5. panic systems;
6. required training;
7. required health or rights notices;
8. routine inspections;
9. building compliance;
10. security staff required by the business’s safety plan.
4. Commissions, room fees, platform fees, or agency fees shall be reasonable, disclosed in writing, and not structured to create debt bondage or coercive dependence.
5. Wages and compensation shall be paid at least weekly unless the worker chooses more frequent payment.
An operator, agency, manager, platform, or content business shall not:
1. require a worker to accept a client;
2. require a worker to perform a particular act;
3. require a worker to be recorded or photographed;
4. require a worker to consume alcohol, drugs, medication, or other substances;
5. require a worker to meet quotas for clients, acts, revenue, tips, subscriptions, content volume, or hours;
6. impose a curfew, confinement, transportation control, housing control, document control, phone control, or surveillance outside lawful workplace safety measures;
7. condition housing, childcare, immigration assistance, transportation, healthcare, legal help, or debt relief on adult intimate work;
8. impose appearance, weight, gender expression, race, disability, age, pregnancy, or health-status requirements unrelated to a legitimate, nondiscriminatory safety need;
9. blacklist or threaten to blacklist a worker for refusal, reporting, organizing, leaving, seeking healthcare, or seeking legal advice;
10. misrepresent legal rights, immigration consequences, criminal exposure, health risks, compensation, tax obligations, or reporting options.
1. Workers may organize, bargain collectively, form cooperatives, join worker centers, engage in protected concerted activity, and designate representatives in Commission proceedings.
2. The State recognizes worker-controlled cooperatives as a preferred low-exploitation business model and shall provide technical assistance, reduced fees, and safety-compliance grants.
3. Independent workers may collectively negotiate with licensed platforms, agencies, establishments, and content distributors over fees, safety tools, payment terms, data practices, complaint procedures, deactivation rules, and transparency without being treated by the State as engaged in unlawful restraint of trade.
1. Licensed establishments, agencies, and production businesses shall maintain workers’ compensation insurance where workers are employees and occupational accident coverage for independent workers using the premises.
2. The Commission shall create a Portable Adult Intimate Worker Benefits Fund to support:
1. occupational injury support;
2. health navigation;
3. mental health care;
4. legal aid referrals;
5. emergency relocation;
6. income-stabilization grants after violence, trafficking, retaliation, or major health events;
7. retirement and savings education.
3. The Fund shall be financed by dedicated revenue under Title X, voluntary contributions, grants, and civil penalties.
1. Health regulation under this Act shall be voluntary, confidential, evidence-based, nonstigmatizing, and designed to improve access, not punish workers or clients.
2. No person shall be required to disclose STI status, HIV status, pregnancy status, reproductive health status, disability status, mental health status, medication use, or medical records as a condition of licensing, certification, platform access, employment, contracting, services, or client access, except as required by generally applicable public-health law.
3. Mandatory STI or HIV testing shall not be required as a condition of worker certification.
4. Operators, clients, and platforms shall not advertise, imply, demand, or rely on a person’s medical examination or test result as proof that the person is free from infection or risk.
1. The Department of Health, in consultation with the Commission and worker-led organizations, shall provide or fund:
1. voluntary STI and HIV testing;
2. vaccination access;
3. prevention counseling;
4. reproductive and sexual healthcare;
5. harm-reduction services;
6. PrEP and PEP navigation where clinically appropriate;
7. mental health services;
8. trauma care;
9. disability-accessible care;
10. culturally competent care;
11. mobile clinics and telehealth;
12. peer outreach;
13. language access;
14. healthcare enrollment support.
2. Services shall be available regardless of certification status, immigration status, income, housing status, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or willingness to cooperate with law enforcement.
3. Healthcare providers shall not report lawful adult intimate work to law enforcement, licensing authorities, immigration authorities, landlords, employers, or family members without the patient’s written consent, except as required by laws governing minors, imminent serious harm, abuse of vulnerable adults, court orders, or mandatory reporting of trafficking where applicable.
1. The Commission, with the Department of Health and Department of Labor, shall promulgate occupational safety rules covering:
1. emergency alerts;
2. premises safety;
3. sanitation;
4. infectious-disease prevention;
5. safe transportation;
6. de-escalation;
7. intoxication screening;
8. incident documentation;
9. worker rest and recovery;
10. accessible premises;
11. privacy and surveillance limits;
12. secure payment;
13. lone-worker safety;
14. content-production safety.
2. Rules shall require establishments and agencies to provide safety tools at no cost to workers.
3. The Commission shall create a model safety plan and shall approve alternative plans that provide equal or greater protection.
1. Every licensed establishment shall install worker-controlled panic systems in every service room and production area.
2. Panic systems shall:
1. be reachable without crossing the room;
2. silently alert trained response personnel;
3. provide a backup alert method;
4. be tested weekly;
5. be accessible to workers with disabilities;
6. not record audio or video in service rooms.
3. Agencies arranging off-premises services shall provide:
1. check-in protocols;
2. location verification chosen by the worker;
3. emergency contacts;
4. safe transportation plans;
5. client screening;
6. distress codes;
7. rapid response.
4. Workers may decline any location that lacks reasonable safety measures.
1. Operators, managers, security staff, platform moderators, booking staff, production staff, and inspectors shall complete annual training on:
1. consent;
2. harassment prevention;
3. discrimination prevention;
4. trafficking indicators;
5. minor-safety indicators;
6. privacy;
7. emergency response;
8. trauma-informed communication;
9. disability access;
10. language access;
11. health and sanitation;
12. due process;
13. evidence preservation.
2. Training shall be developed with worker-led organizations, survivor-support organizations, public-health experts, labor experts, civil-rights organizations, and law enforcement victim specialists.
1. A person shall not harass, discriminate against, segregate, exclude, deny service to, underpay, discipline, evict, deplatform, blacklist, threaten, or retaliate against a person because of:
1. a protected characteristic;
2. lawful adult intimate work;
3. refusal or withdrawal of consent;
4. reporting, assisting, or opposing conduct prohibited by this Act;
5. prior victimization;
6. participation in healthcare, legal aid, advocacy, or worker organization.
2. Prohibited conduct includes:
1. quid pro quo sexual demands;
2. hostile work environment;
3. hostile service environment;
4. discriminatory client or worker selection by a business;
5. refusal to accommodate disability;
6. racialized, gender-based, anti-LGBTQ, xenophobic, age-based, body-based, disability-based, or health-status-based harassment;
7. outing, doxxing, misgendering done as harassment, deadnaming done as harassment, or disclosure of private information;
8. threats to contact immigration, law enforcement, family, employers, landlords, schools, or child-custody authorities;
9. retaliatory reviews, blacklists, platform reports, or safety-list misuse.
1. A person aggrieved by a violation of this Title may file a complaint with the Commission, the State Civil Rights Agency, the Attorney General, or a court.
2. Administrative complaints shall be accepted in person, online, by phone, by mail, through advocates, anonymously for intelligence purposes, and confidentially for enforcement purposes.
3. Remedies may include:
1. injunctive relief;
2. reinstatement;
3. license discipline;
4. back pay;
5. front pay;
6. restitution;
7. compensatory damages;
8. statutory damages of $5,000 to $50,000 per violation;
9. punitive damages for malicious or reckless conduct;
10. attorney fees and costs;
11. training orders;
12. monitoring;
13. corrective advertising;
14. data deletion;
15. privacy restoration.
4. A business shall be liable for harassment or discrimination by its owners, managers, supervisors, security staff, booking staff, content staff, platform moderators, or agents. A business may be liable for client or third-party misconduct when it knew or should have known of the conduct and failed to take prompt, reasonable corrective action.
1. Retaliation is prohibited.
2. A rebuttable presumption of retaliation arises when adverse action occurs within 180 days after protected activity.
3. A person who retaliates is subject to civil penalties, damages, injunctive relief, license discipline, and, when threats, violence, stalking, extortion, or coercion are involved, criminal referral.
1. The State shall establish an Adult Intimate Work Victim and Survivor Services Program within the Office for Victims of Crime or equivalent agency.
2. Services shall be available to any person harmed by harassment, sexual violence, trafficking, coercion, exploitation, stalking, retaliation, nonconsensual recording, nonconsensual distribution, discrimination, wage theft connected to coercion, or abuse arising in or related to adult intimate work.
3. Services shall include:
1. 24-hour hotline and text access;
2. confidential victim advocates;
3. emergency protective-order assistance;
4. safety planning;
5. emergency shelter and relocation;
6. medical care navigation;
7. sexual-assault forensic examination access;
8. confidential evidence preservation;
9. mental health counseling;
10. legal aid;
11. immigration-sensitive services;
12. T visa and U visa referral assistance;
13. language access;
14. disability accommodations;
15. transportation assistance;
16. childcare assistance;
17. income-stabilization grants;
18. digital safety assistance;
19. intimate-content takedown assistance;
20. civil litigation support;
21. restorative options when requested by the survivor and lawful.
4. Services shall not require a survivor to report to law enforcement, participate in prosecution, leave adult intimate work, disclose immigration status, disclose legal name publicly, or submit to mandatory medical testing.
1. The Commission shall maintain reporting channels for:
1. emergencies;
2. confidential complaints;
3. anonymous tips;
4. digital platform reports;
5. worker safety reports;
6. client misconduct reports;
7. trafficking indicators;
8. nonconsensual content;
9. retaliation and blacklisting;
10. discrimination and harassment.
2. The Commission shall permit reports through advocates, healthcare providers, worker organizations, platform safety teams, family members, and witnesses.
3. A survivor may choose whether to identify themselves to the respondent during the preliminary safety assessment. Formal adverse action against a respondent shall not be based solely on anonymous allegations unless corroborated by independent evidence or used only for nonpunitive safety planning.
1. A court may issue an emergency protective order upon a sworn statement showing reasonable cause to believe that a person faces immediate or continuing risk of harassment, stalking, assault, coercion, trafficking, retaliation, nonconsensual recording, nonconsensual distribution, doxxing, extortion, or unlawful disclosure.
2. An order may:
1. prohibit contact;
2. require stay-away distances;
3. require removal of intimate content;
4. prohibit disclosure of identity, location, health information, immigration information, or work history;
5. prohibit retaliation;
6. require surrender of unlawfully held documents or property;
7. require temporary platform account restrictions;
8. require temporary workplace separation;
9. require preservation of evidence;
10. provide other necessary relief.
3. Ex parte relief may last up to 21 days. A hearing with notice and opportunity to be heard shall occur before extension.
1. A survivor shall not be prosecuted for adult intimate work, immigration-status-related reporting issues, licensing noncompliance, drug possession for personal use, false identification used to escape exploitation, or other nonviolent conduct directly resulting from trafficking, coercion, survival necessity, or abuse, unless prosecution is necessary to address serious bodily harm to another person and alternatives would be inadequate.
2. Evidence that a person engaged in adult intimate work shall not be used to impeach credibility, establish consent, prove criminal propensity, deny victim status, or reduce damages.
3. A survivor may seek restitution, damages, license sanctions, protective orders, content takedown, vacatur, and confidentiality whether or not a criminal prosecution occurs.
1. A person shall not blacklist, threaten to blacklist, dox, expose, deplatform, or deny future work to a worker, client, survivor, or witness for reporting, refusing, withdrawing consent, seeking support, participating in a proceeding, organizing, or asserting rights.
2. Worker-created safety information systems are permitted if they:
1. are designed to prevent violence or exploitation;
2. use privacy-preserving procedures;
3. prohibit protected-characteristic discrimination;
4. include procedures to correct materially false information;
5. do not publicly disclose legal names, addresses, health information, immigration information, or unrelated private information.
1. Administrative investigations shall be prompt, fair, impartial, trauma-informed, and rights-protective.
2. The investigating agency shall:
1. provide complainants with reporting options, confidentiality information, advocate access, and protection from retaliation;
2. provide respondents with notice of allegations before adverse findings, unless delayed notice is necessary to prevent imminent harm or evidence destruction;
3. collect relevant evidence;
4. avoid unnecessary invasive questioning;
5. protect privileged and confidential information;
6. provide reasonable accommodations;
7. use trained investigators;
8. issue written findings.
3. A finding of violation in an administrative proceeding requires proof by a preponderance of the evidence, except that emergency suspension requires probable cause and final revocation based primarily on trafficking, sexual violence, exploitation of a minor, or intentional nonconsensual content distribution requires clear and convincing evidence.
1. A complainant has the right to:
1. an advocate;
2. confidentiality;
3. safety planning;
4. notice of major case actions;
5. protection from retaliation;
6. language access;
7. disability accommodations;
8. evidence submission;
9. trauma-informed proceedings;
10. appeal of dismissal or inadequate protective measures.
2. A respondent has the right to:
1. notice of alleged violations;
2. access to evidence subject to privacy protections;
3. opportunity to respond;
4. counsel or representative at the respondent’s expense;
5. impartial decision-maker;
6. written findings;
7. appeal;
8. protection from public disclosure before final adjudication, except for necessary emergency safety notice.
3. Interim measures shall be individualized, no broader than necessary, and designed to protect safety and evidence integrity without presuming final responsibility.
1. Records concerning worker certification, survivor services, health services, complaints, investigations, intimate content, client identity, worker identity, or witness identity are confidential and exempt from public disclosure.
2. Disclosure may occur only:
1. with written consent;
2. to provide services;
3. to enforce this Act through secure channels;
4. pursuant to court order;
5. pursuant to warrant;
6. when necessary to prevent imminent serious harm;
7. as anonymized aggregate data.
3. A person’s sexual history, adult intimate work history, appearance, clothing, professional name, advertisements, or prior content shall not be admitted to prove consent, credibility, propensity, or fault, except where a court finds that the evidence is directly material, not unfairly prejudicial, and unavailable through less intrusive means.
1. A person who knowingly makes a materially false claim with intent to cause unlawful harm is subject to civil penalties, attorney fees, and other relief.
2. A complaint shall not be deemed false, malicious, or bad faith solely because:
1. the allegation is not substantiated;
2. the complainant delays reporting;
3. the complainant withdraws;
4. memories are incomplete or inconsistent;
5. the respondent is not disciplined;
6. evidence is unavailable;
7. a prosecutor declines charges;
8. a court or agency finds insufficient proof.
3. No agency shall pursue penalties for a knowingly false claim without clear and convincing evidence of material falsity and malicious intent.
4. This section shall not be used to deter, threaten, or retaliate against good-faith reports.
1. A final administrative order may be appealed to the designated administrative appeals body within 30 days.
2. A final agency decision after appeal is subject to judicial review.
3. Courts shall preserve confidentiality through sealing, pseudonyms, redaction, protective orders, closed proceedings when necessary, and limited-access records.
1. A person commits commercial sexual exploitation of a minor if the person knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, maintains, advertises, patronizes, solicits, purchases, manages, records, distributes, or benefits from commercial sexual conduct involving a minor.
2. If the person had a reasonable opportunity to observe the minor, mistake of age is not a defense.
3. Violation is punishable by imprisonment for 15 years to life, a fine up to $500,000, restitution, asset forfeiture, permanent license disqualification, and registration when required by law.
1. A person commits coercive adult intimate work if the person uses coercion to cause or attempt to cause another person to provide, continue, advertise, record, distribute, facilitate, or purchase adult intimate services or content.
2. Violation is punishable by imprisonment for 5 to 25 years, a fine up to $250,000, restitution, asset forfeiture, and permanent or long-term license disqualification.
3. Aggravated coercive adult intimate work is punishable by imprisonment for 10 to 40 years when:
1. the conduct involves serious bodily injury;
2. the conduct involves a weapon;
3. the defendant targets multiple victims;
4. the defendant is an operator, manager, security staff member, public official, healthcare provider, landlord, immigration service provider, or law enforcement officer abusing authority;
5. the conduct involves confinement, kidnapping, document confiscation, debt bondage, or threats to children or family members;
6. the conduct involves organized criminal activity.
1. A person who engages in an intimate act with another person in the context of adult intimate work without affirmative consent commits a sexual offense and is subject to penalties under the State’s sexual-assault laws.
2. Payment, work status, contract language, prior consent, or presence in a licensed establishment is not a defense.
3. A conviction under this section requires restitution, mandatory no-contact orders when requested by the survivor, and license disqualification when the offender is licensed.
1. A person commits unlawful intimate content abuse if the person knowingly:
1. records, photographs, livestreams, stores, or captures intimate content without written consent;
2. distributes, publishes, sells, transmits, or monetizes intimate content without written distribution consent;
3. threatens to distribute intimate content to obtain money, labor, services, sex, silence, immigration advantage, housing advantage, or any other benefit;
4. creates, distributes, or monetizes realistic synthetic intimate content depicting an identifiable person without consent;
5. refuses to remove content after a lawful takedown order.
2. Violation is punishable by imprisonment for up to 5 years, a fine up to $100,000, restitution, damages, content deletion, de-indexing orders, and forfeiture of proceeds.
3. Aggravated violation is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years when the conduct involves a minor, coercion, stalking, extortion, trafficking, repeated distribution, synthetic impersonation for profit, or distribution to employers, family, schools, landlords, immigration authorities, or child-custody participants.
1. Retaliation involving threats, violence, stalking, extortion, document confiscation, immigration threats, or economic coercion is punishable by imprisonment for up to 5 years, a fine up to $100,000, restitution, and license discipline.
2. Document confiscation for the purpose of compelling adult intimate work is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years.
3. Debt bondage or quota systems used to compel adult intimate work are punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years, restitution, debt cancellation, and asset forfeiture.
1. A person who knowingly operates an adult intimate establishment, agency, content production business, content distribution business, or covered platform without required licensure is subject to:
1. civil penalty of $10,000 to $100,000;
2. cease-and-desist order;
3. restitution;
4. tax assessment;
5. license ineligibility for up to five years.
2. Knowing unlicensed operation after a final cease-and-desist order is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine up to $250,000 when the conduct creates substantial risk of trafficking, coercion, sexual violence, exploitation of a minor, or serious injury.
1. The Attorney General, Commission, Civil Rights Agency, Department of Labor, Department of Health, or a local prosecutor may bring a civil action to enforce this Act.
2. A private person injured by a violation may bring a civil action for:
1. declaratory relief;
2. injunctive relief;
3. damages;
4. statutory damages;
5. restitution;
6. content takedown;
7. data deletion;
8. attorney fees and costs.
3. The statute of limitations is:
1. 10 years for trafficking, coercion, sexual violence, exploitation of a minor, or nonconsensual intimate content;
2. 6 years for harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wage theft, privacy violations, or licensing-related harm;
3. tolled while the plaintiff is a minor, incapacitated, under coercive control, trafficked, reasonably fearful of retaliation, or unable to discover the violation.
1. Commercial adult intimate content shall not be produced, recorded, stored, distributed, sold, licensed, streamed, or monetized unless each depicted participant provides written consent.
2. Consent shall be separate for:
1. recording;
2. editing;
3. storage;
4. publication;
5. sale;
6. platform distribution;
7. geographic distribution;
8. duration of distribution;
9. use of professional name or legal name;
10. use of likeness, voice, and biometric data;
11. synthetic alteration or AI-generated derivative;
12. promotional excerpts;
13. sublicensing.
3. Blanket consent to unspecified future recordings, uses, platforms, acts, participants, or synthetic alterations is invalid.
4. A participant may revoke consent before first commercial distribution. After first commercial distribution, a participant may seek takedown for fraud, coercion, material breach, nonpayment, unlawful distribution, unauthorized alteration, expiration of consent, or safety threat.
5. Consent records shall be retained securely for seven years after final distribution and shall be available to the Commission or court under protective procedures.
1. A covered platform or content distributor shall maintain an accessible takedown mechanism for nonconsensual intimate content, impersonation, unauthorized advertising, trafficking, coercion, minor-involved content, and unlawful synthetic intimate content.
2. Upon receiving a facially valid notice, the platform shall:
1. remove or disable access to the reported content within 24 hours when the claim involves a minor, trafficking, coercion, imminent harm, extortion, or unlawful recording;
2. remove or disable access within 48 hours for other nonconsensual intimate content;
3. make reasonable efforts to identify and remove known identical copies under the platform’s control;
4. preserve evidence for 90 days, or longer upon lawful request;
5. notify the reporting person of action taken;
6. provide information about survivor services and law enforcement options.
3. A platform may provide a privacy-protective counter-notice process when legally appropriate, but shall not restore intimate content unless it determines by clear evidence that all required consents exist and restoration would not create immediate safety risk.
4. Repeated failure to comply is an unfair or deceptive practice under state consumer-protection law and grounds for civil penalties and license discipline.
1. Operators, agencies, establishments, platforms, and content distributors shall collect only data necessary for licensing, safety, payment, age verification, consent verification, tax compliance, and lawful reporting.
2. Covered entities shall not sell, rent, trade, or disclose worker or client:
1. legal name;
2. home address;
3. precise location;
4. phone number;
5. email address;
6. biometric data;
7. identification documents;
8. health information;
9. immigration information;
10. work history;
11. client history;
12. platform viewing history;
13. content-consumption history.
3. Biometric data may be used only for age or identity verification when a less intrusive method is unavailable or chosen by the person. Biometric data shall be deleted immediately after verification unless the person separately consents to retention for a specific lawful purpose.
4. Age-verification systems shall use privacy-preserving methods when feasible, including third-party tokenization, zero-knowledge verification, or other methods that confirm adult status without revealing unnecessary identity data.
5. A covered entity shall not retain copies of government identification after verification unless retention is expressly required by law. When retention is required, the entity shall encrypt the record, restrict access, maintain access logs, and delete the record at the earliest lawful date.
6. A breach of worker, client, participant, or survivor data shall be reported within 72 hours to the Commission and affected persons, unless delayed by court order for criminal investigation.
7. A person injured by unlawful data disclosure may recover actual damages, statutory damages of $10,000 per affected person per violation, punitive damages for reckless or intentional disclosure, attorney fees, and injunctive relief.
1. Advertising for lawful adult intimate work is permitted only:
1. by a certified worker advertising the worker’s own services;
2. by a licensed operator, agency, establishment, platform, content production business, or content distributor;
3. through media, platforms, signage, or locations authorized by this Act and Commission rule.
2. An advertisement shall:
1. be truthful and not misleading;
2. identify the license or certification status through a privacy-preserving credential;
3. state that all services require affirmative consent and may be refused or stopped;
4. include a link or notice concerning reporting options, trafficking indicators, and client responsibilities when online;
5. avoid disclosure of a worker’s legal name, home address, precise location, immigration status, health status, or private contact information without written consent.
3. An advertisement shall not:
1. depict or suggest a minor;
2. use school imagery, childlike imagery, youth-targeted cartoons, toys, uniforms associated with minors, or language designed to appeal to minors;
3. show explicit sexual conduct in outdoor, storefront, transit, broadcast, or other public-facing media accessible to minors;
4. falsely imply guaranteed services, nonconsensual services, intoxicated services, unsafe services, or services outside a worker’s boundaries;
5. imply that payment purchases consent;
6. advertise unlicensed establishments, agencies, platforms, or operators;
7. use a person’s image, voice, likeness, professional name, legal name, review, or intimate content without consent;
8. target minors or use behavioral advertising profiles known to include minors;
9. use unsolicited direct messages, spam, robocalls, or location-based targeting near schools, shelters, healthcare facilities, addiction-treatment facilities, courthouses, houses of worship, youth centers, or domestic-violence shelters;
10. obstruct reporting or misrepresent legal rights.
4. Outdoor, storefront, transit, and public-facing advertisements shall be limited to:
1. business name;
2. logo;
3. hours;
4. general adult-services description;
5. website or phone contact;
6. license number;
7. non-explicit imagery.
5. No outdoor or public-facing advertisement for an adult intimate establishment shall be placed within 1,000 feet of a K-12 school, licensed childcare center, playground, youth center, or public library children’s entrance, measured by ordinary pedestrian route, unless the advertisement is inside a building and not visible from the protected location.
6. Online advertisements containing explicit adult content shall be behind an age-verification or age-gating mechanism and shall comply with privacy requirements.
1. A client has the right to:
1. truthful price and fee information;
2. privacy consistent with this Act;
3. safety from assault, theft, extortion, unlawful recording, discrimination, and fraud;
4. clear cancellation and refund policies;
5. notice that all services require ongoing consent;
6. complaint access.
2. A client shall:
1. be an adult;
2. comply with consent and boundary rules;
3. not record or distribute intimate content without written consent;
4. not harass, stalk, threaten, coerce, dox, assault, or retaliate;
5. not seek services from a person believed to be minor, coerced, trafficked, incapacitated, or unsafe;
6. comply with establishment safety and health rules.
3. Client privacy does not shield criminal conduct. Records identifying a client may be disclosed pursuant to warrant, court order, emergency protective order, or lawful investigation of trafficking, coercion, sexual violence, exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual recording, stalking, extortion, or serious violence.
1. The Adult Intimate Work Safety and Equity Fund is established in the State Treasury.
2. The Fund shall receive:
1. license fees;
2. civil penalties;
3. dedicated excise taxes;
4. appropriations;
5. grants;
6. restitution deposits when unclaimed and lawfully transferred;
7. voluntary contributions.
3. Fund money shall not revert to the general fund.
1. A licensed operator, agency, establishment, content production business, content distributor, and covered platform shall pay an adult intimate work excise tax equal to 4 percent of gross receipts derived from adult intimate work in this State.
2. Worker earnings paid directly to individual workers shall not be taxed under this section. Workers remain subject to generally applicable income and self-employment taxes.
3. Worker-controlled cooperatives with annual gross receipts under $500,000 shall pay a reduced excise tax of 1 percent.
4. The Department of Revenue shall issue simplified guidance to prevent tax compliance from exposing workers’ identities or pushing workers into unregulated markets.
5. Tax records identifying workers, clients, or survivors are confidential and shall not be disclosed except for tax administration, court order, or investigation of trafficking, coercion, exploitation of a minor, money laundering, or serious violence.
Annual Fund revenue shall be allocated as follows:
1. 25 percent to worker health, occupational safety, mental health, peer outreach, and mobile services;
2. 25 percent to victim and survivor services, emergency housing, relocation, legal aid, intimate-content takedown assistance, and protective-order support;
3. 20 percent to inspections, licensing, anti-trafficking enforcement, financial audits, and platform compliance;
4. 10 percent to public education, consent education, client-responsibility campaigns, and professional training;
5. 10 percent to local community impact grants for lighting, transportation safety, sanitation, nuisance prevention, and nonpunitive outreach;
6. 5 percent to worker-controlled cooperative support and transition grants;
7. 5 percent to research, data protection, independent evaluation, and legislative review.
1. Local governments shall not impose fees, taxes, assessments, or charges on adult intimate workers or businesses that exceed the reasonable cost of administration, inspection, public safety, and community-impact mitigation.
2. Fees shall not be structured to suppress lawful adult intimate work, force workers into unregulated markets, or favor large operators over independent workers and worker-controlled cooperatives.
1. The Adult Intimate Work Regulation Commission is established as an independent regulatory body within the Department of Labor and Public Health Administration.
2. The Commission shall administer licensing, certification, rules, inspections, complaints, data privacy, compliance assistance, and reporting under this Act.
3. The Commission shall include 11 voting members appointed for staggered four-year terms:
1. one public-health expert;
2. one labor-rights expert;
3. one civil-rights expert;
4. one anti-trafficking expert;
5. one victim-services expert;
6. two current or former adult intimate workers selected from nominees submitted by worker-led organizations;
7. one representative of worker-controlled cooperatives or small businesses;
8. one local-government representative;
9. one data-privacy or technology expert;
10. one attorney with administrative-law and due-process experience.
4. At least half of Commission members shall have demonstrated experience with worker safety, survivor rights, civil liberties, public health, or labor enforcement.
5. No owner, executive, lobbyist, or controlling investor of a large adult intimate business may serve as a voting Commission member.
The Commission shall:
1. issue worker certifications;
2. license operators, establishments, agencies, platforms, content production businesses, and content distributors;
3. promulgate rules;
4. inspect licensed premises;
5. investigate complaints;
6. discipline licenses;
7. coordinate with labor, health, civil-rights, tax, consumer-protection, law enforcement, and victim-services agencies;
8. maintain confidential reporting systems;
9. certify training programs;
10. publish privacy-preserving transparency reports;
11. support worker-controlled cooperatives;
12. maintain model contracts, safety plans, notices, and policies;
13. fund public-health and survivor-service grants;
14. issue advisory opinions;
15. conduct community-impact review;
16. maintain data-protection standards;
17. recommend legislative updates.
1. The Commission shall establish:
1. Worker Rights Advisory Board;
2. Survivor and Anti-Trafficking Advisory Board;
3. Public Health and Safety Advisory Board;
4. Local Government and Community Standards Advisory Board;
5. Digital Platforms and Privacy Advisory Board.
2. Advisory boards shall include affected workers, survivors, advocates, public-health providers, local officials, civil-rights experts, disability-rights experts, immigrant-rights experts, law enforcement victim specialists, and privacy experts.
3. Advisory boards shall meet at least quarterly and provide public recommendations with confidential appendices where necessary.
1. Within 180 days after enactment, the Commission shall issue proposed rules on licensing, worker certification, privacy, advertising, safety, health standards, inspections, platform obligations, complaint procedures, due process, and local zoning certification.
2. Final rules shall be issued within 365 days after enactment.
3. Rules shall be developed through public notice, worker and survivor consultation, language-access measures, small-business consultation, and privacy-impact assessment.
By March 1 of each year, the Commission shall publish an annual report containing anonymized aggregate information on:
1. certifications and licenses issued;
2. denials, suspensions, revocations, and appeals;
3. complaints by type;
4. enforcement actions;
5. trafficking indicators and referrals;
6. worker safety incidents;
7. harassment and discrimination complaints;
8. nonconsensual content reports and takedown compliance;
9. public-health service utilization;
10. survivor services delivered;
11. revenue and expenditures;
12. zoning and market concentration;
13. local community impacts;
14. data breaches;
15. training completion;
16. recommendations.
The report shall not disclose personally identifying information.
1. Local governments may adopt reasonable time, place, manner, zoning, spacing, signage, hours, nuisance, sanitation, traffic, parking, lighting, and public-safety regulations for adult intimate establishments.
2. Local regulations shall be:
1. content-neutral to the maximum extent practicable;
2. based on documented secondary effects, public safety, health, traffic, density, or land-use concerns;
3. objective and administrable;
4. not arbitrary or pretextual;
5. no broader than necessary;
6. applied equally to similarly situated businesses;
7. consistent with worker safety, privacy, and access to lawful regulated spaces.
3. Local governments shall not:
1. ban lawful adult intimate work;
2. impose moratoria exceeding 180 days;
3. zone establishments only into unavailable, unsafe, inaccessible, or commercially infeasible areas;
4. require public disclosure of worker identities;
5. require neighborhood consent as a condition of licensure;
6. impose excessive fees;
7. prohibit independent or cooperative models;
8. use nuisance law to punish lawful adult intimate work absent actual nuisance;
9. prohibit safety advertising, rights notices, or reporting information.
Unless a local government adopts alternative standards approved by the Commission, the following default standards apply:
1. An adult intimate establishment shall not be located within 1,000 feet of a K-12 school, licensed childcare center, playground, or youth center.
2. An adult intimate establishment shall not be located within 500 feet of a residential zoning district, unless separated by a major roadway, industrial district, or other buffer approved by the local government.
3. An adult intimate establishment shall not be located within 750 feet of another adult intimate establishment, unless the local government creates an adult business district with enhanced safety, transit, lighting, health, and nuisance protections.
4. Distance shall be measured by ordinary pedestrian route.
5. A local government may reduce or increase spacing only upon written findings that the adjustment protects public safety and leaves reasonable alternative sites.
1. Local governments may use conditional-use permits, objective density standards, and community-impact review to prevent oversaturation.
2. A density rule is invalid if it leaves no reasonable alternative sites, creates unsafe isolation, prevents worker access to regulated premises, or operates as a de facto ban.
3. The Commission shall review local adult intimate work zoning every three years and may invalidate or condition a local ordinance that conflicts with this Act.
4. Local governments receiving Fund grants shall report community impacts, enforcement actions, complaints, zoning outcomes, and worker-safety effects.
1. A certified worker may provide lawful adult intimate services independently from a private residence or rented space if:
1. all participants are adults;
2. the worker controls the premises or has lawful permission;
3. no public-facing signage is used;
4. no minors are present during services;
5. safety protocols are followed;
6. local occupancy, fire, building, and nuisance rules are obeyed;
7. no operator controls the worker without a license.
2. Local governments may regulate home-based work through generally applicable home-occupation, nuisance, fire, occupancy, and parking rules, but shall not require public disclosure of worker identity or address.
1. The Commission shall conduct public education on:
1. affirmative consent;
2. worker rights;
3. client responsibilities;
4. anti-harassment standards;
5. anti-discrimination standards;
6. trafficking indicators;
7. reporting options;
8. legal consequences;
9. nonconsensual recording and distribution;
10. privacy rights;
11. health services;
12. local zoning and community standards.
2. Public materials shall be accurate, nonstigmatizing, multilingual, accessible to persons with disabilities, and designed with worker and survivor input.
1. Regulators, inspectors, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, court staff, healthcare providers, victim advocates, labor investigators, civil-rights investigators, tax auditors, and local zoning officials shall receive training relevant to their role.
2. Training for law enforcement shall emphasize:
1. distinguishing consensual adult intimate work from trafficking and coercion;
2. victim-centered and trauma-informed response;
3. nonarrest safe harbor;
4. confidentiality;
5. evidence preservation;
6. avoiding use of health supplies as evidence of crime;
7. immigration-sensitive reporting;
8. digital evidence;
9. due process;
10. cultural competency.
1. Within 30 days after enactment, the Governor shall appoint an interim implementation director.
2. Within 90 days after enactment:
1. Commission appointments shall begin;
2. transition guidance shall be published;
3. nonprosecution safe-harbor guidance shall be issued;
4. survivor-service grants shall begin;
5. expungement forms shall be published.
3. Within 180 days after enactment:
1. proposed rules shall be issued;
2. model safety plans shall be published;
3. worker training shall be available;
4. public education shall begin;
5. local zoning model ordinances shall be issued.
4. Within 365 days after enactment:
1. final rules shall be issued;
2. worker certification shall open;
3. operator licensing shall open;
4. platform certification shall open;
5. establishment permitting shall open.
5. Eighteen months after worker certification opens:
1. full licensing enforcement may begin;
2. unlicensed business enforcement may begin;
3. worker safe-harbor civil assistance remains available.
6. Twenty-four months after enactment:
1. excise tax collection shall begin;
2. annual reporting shall begin;
3. local zoning compliance review shall begin.
1. Current adult workers may enter the regulated system without disclosing prior unlawful conduct except as necessary for certification.
2. Information provided for transition, certification, healthcare, legal aid, expungement, or survivor services shall not be used for prosecution of prior adult consensual conduct made lawful by this Act.
3. The Commission shall fund peer navigators to assist current workers with certification, taxes, health access, safety planning, platform transition, cooperative formation, and legal remedies.
1. Any state or local law criminalizing prostitution, solicitation, assignation, loitering for prostitution, keeping a bawdy house, maintaining a house of prostitution, living from earnings, promoting prostitution, or similar offenses shall not apply to lawful adult intimate work under this Act.
2. Such laws remain enforceable against trafficking, coercion, exploitation of minors, unlicensed commercial operation after transition, nonconsensual conduct, public nuisance, harassment, stalking, assault, fraud, money laundering, and other conduct prohibited by this Act.
1. The Legislature shall commission independent evaluations at years 3, 5, and 10.
2. Evaluations shall assess:
1. worker safety;
2. trafficking detection and prevention;
3. survivor access to services;
4. health outcomes;
5. market size and concentration;
6. local community impacts;
7. zoning effects;
8. privacy and data security;
9. complaints and enforcement;
10. litigation;
11. fiscal performance;
12. effects on unregulated markets;
13. discrimination and harassment;
14. platform compliance;
15. worker-controlled cooperative development.
3. Evaluators shall use privacy-preserving methods and shall not collect personally identifying information unless necessary, consensual, and protected.
If any provision of this Act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application. The provisions of this Act are severable.
This Act takes effect 180 days after enactment, except that Sections 1 through 5, 104, 701, 1201, 1204, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1505, and this section take effect immediately.
Section commentary
Core architecture. The bill legalizes consensual adult intimate work but makes legalization conditional on consent, worker autonomy, confidential worker certification, licensed operators, regulated premises, privacy-protective platform rules, and strong civil/criminal remedies.
Why confidential worker certification instead of public registration. A public registry would invite outing, stalking, housing discrimination, employment discrimination, immigration threats, child-custody misuse, and blackmail. The Act verifies adulthood and training while shielding identity. The worker is not criminalized for certification lapses; businesses face stronger regulation.
Why operators face the heaviest regulation. Coercion, trafficking, unsafe premises, hidden ownership, wage theft, exploitative contracts, and money laundering are most likely to arise through managers, agencies, establishments, financiers, and platforms. The bill therefore imposes background checks, beneficial ownership disclosure, safety plans, financial records, anti-money-laundering controls, insurance, inspections, and license discipline on operators.
Consent provisions. The Act makes consent granular: consent to one act is not consent to another; consent to work is not consent to a client; consent to recording is not consent to distribution; and payment never purchases irrevocable access. This is the bill’s beating heart.
Labor provisions. The bill blocks the classic coercion toolkit: noncompetes, debt bondage, quotas, document confiscation, forced alcohol consumption, punitive fees, room-fee traps, mandatory acts, and retaliation. It also allows cooperatives and collective representation.
Health provisions. The bill rejects punitive mandatory testing as a licensing gate and instead funds voluntary confidential healthcare, prevention, trauma care, mental health care, and peer outreach. Establishments must provide sanitation, safety supplies, panic systems, and health notices.
Victim and survivor provisions. Survivors can report confidentially, receive services without leaving the industry or cooperating with police, obtain emergency protective orders, preserve evidence, seek takedowns, pursue civil remedies, and avoid prosecution for conduct caused by exploitation.
Due process. The Act includes notice, response, evidence access, appeal, confidentiality, standards of proof, limits on anonymous claims for final adverse action, and penalties for knowingly false malicious claims. It expressly says that unproven claims are not automatically false.
Digital and advertising rules. The Act permits adult advertising but narrows where and how it may appear. Public-facing ads cannot show explicit conduct, target minors, use childlike imagery, or disclose private identity. Online explicit ads require age-gating and consent verification. Platforms have takedown, verification, privacy, reporting, and transparency obligations.
Local control. Local governments may regulate spacing, signage, hours, parking, nuisance, and density, but cannot turn regulation into a ban. The Act uses default spacing rules and Commission review to prevent both oversaturation and prohibition-by-zoning.
Constitutional and legal-risk analysis
State authority. A state has broad police-power authority over health, safety, labor standards, occupational licensing, taxation, land use, consumer protection, privacy, and criminal law. The strongest state-interest pillars are preventing trafficking, sexual violence, exploitation of minors, coercion, nonconsensual content, harassment, unsafe premises, and money laundering.
Federal trafficking law. State legalization cannot displace federal trafficking law. The draft preserves and parallels federal concepts of force, fraud, coercion, minors, advertising, patronizing, and financial benefit in trafficking ventures.
Section 230. The highest digital-litigation risk is imposing state liability on platforms for third-party content. The draft limits platform duties to certification, age and consent verification, notice-and-action procedures, own-business practices, actual-knowledge responses, transparency, and privacy duties, and expressly saves federal preemption.
First Amendment, advertising, and signage. Adult intimate-work advertising, adult entertainment, and adult content implicate protected expression and commercial speech. The draft avoids a blanket advertising ban, uses objective public-facing limits, permits truthful lawful advertising in adult channels, and ties restrictions to minors, deception, consent, privacy, trafficking prevention, and secondary effects. Commercial-speech restrictions should be tested under Central Hudson, while public signage and zoning rules should avoid content discrimination and excessive breadth.
Adult websites and age verification. Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton strengthens the state’s ability to require age verification for commercial websites distributing material obscene to minors, but privacy remains a litigation and policy risk. The draft therefore requires privacy-preserving age verification, data minimization, deletion, no sale of data, breach notice, and limited retention.
Equal protection and civil rights. The Act is facially inclusive and prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, race, disability, age, immigration status, body size, health status, and lawful adult intimate work. The state may provide protections broader than federal law, although specific gender-identity applications can become politically and legally contested depending on jurisdiction.
Fourth Amendment and privacy. Inspection provisions limit entry into private rooms, ban intimate-area surveillance, require lawful process for sensitive records, and keep certification records confidential. Those limits reduce search, seizure, and privacy challenges.
Due process. License denial, suspension, revocation, and discipline include notice, hearing, written findings, appeal, and judicial review. Emergency suspensions are limited to imminent serious risk and require rapid hearings.
Dormant Commerce Clause. Platform and content provisions should apply to businesses doing business in the state, users located in the state, content produced in the state, or transactions directed to the state. Enforcement should avoid extraterritorial control of wholly out-of-state transactions.
Appendix A. Fiscal note, model estimate
Assumption: mid-sized state, 5 million residents, 2,500 to 6,000 workers transitioning over five years, 100 to 300 licensed businesses, and significant online-platform compliance activity.
Year 1 startup costs: $12 million to $25 million. Major cost centers: Commission setup, rulemaking, IT systems, confidential licensing database, legal forms, survivor-services launch, training curriculum, local government technical assistance, public education, and initial grants.
Annual operating costs after full rollout: $25 million to $60 million. Major cost centers: inspections, licensing staff, privacy/security staff, public-health grants, survivor services, legal aid, platform compliance, data auditing, enforcement, worker navigators, and annual reporting.
Annual revenue after full rollout: $20 million to $75 million, depending on market size, licensing uptake, platform coverage, and gross receipts. The 4 percent business excise tax is intentionally moderate to avoid recreating underground markets. Worker earnings are not subject to the special excise tax.
Best case: high licensing uptake, low litigation, strong cooperative formation, improved reporting, lower violent victimization, and sufficient revenue to fund services.
Base case: licensing uptake takes three years, some local zoning litigation, stable revenue, increased reporting of violence and trafficking during early years due to improved trust.
Worst case: excessive local resistance, privacy breach, platform noncompliance, underfunded services, or over-policing of workers pushes activity back underground. The Act’s worker safe harbor, fee caps, privacy rules, and anti-ban local-control provisions are designed to blunt that risk.
Appendix B. Implementation roadmap
0 to 90 days
Appoint implementation director.
Begin Commission appointments.
Issue law enforcement nonprosecution guidance.
Publish expungement and vacatur forms.
Fund emergency survivor-service grants.
Begin stakeholder listening sessions.
3 to 6 months
Draft model rules.
Build confidential certification system.
Draft model local zoning ordinance.
Create worker training and operator training.
Launch public education on consent, reporting, and transition.
Establish data privacy architecture.
6 to 12 months
Finalize rules.
Open worker certification.
Open operator licensing.
Open platform certification.
Begin cooperative technical assistance.
Start pilot inspections focused on compliance assistance.
Year 2
Begin full business licensing enforcement.
Begin excise tax collection.
Launch annual reporting.
Conduct local zoning review.
Expand health and survivor-service networks.
Audit platforms for takedown and age-verification compliance.
Years 3 to 5
Independent evaluation.
Adjust fees, taxes, zoning, and safety standards.
Expand cooperative grants.
Review whether unregulated market activity is shrinking.
Improve digital privacy standards.
Update anti-trafficking protocols.
Long-term
Mandatory legislative review at years 5 and 10.
Sunset only specific rules that prove ineffective, not the worker rights, consent, anti-trafficking, privacy, or survivor-service core.
Appendix C. Plain-language summary
The SEXY Act says: consenting adults may participate in adult intimate work, but coercion, trafficking, minors, assault, harassment, retaliation, unsafe businesses, abusive contracts, and nonconsensual content are illegal and heavily punished.
Workers get control over clients, services, hours, health decisions, recording, distribution, and whether to stop at any moment. Businesses must be licensed, transparent, safe, inspected, insured, and accountable. Platforms must verify age and consent, protect data, remove nonconsensual content, and report serious abuse. Local governments can regulate location and nuisance, but cannot ban the entire lawful market by stealth zoning.
The Act funds healthcare, legal aid, survivor support, emergency housing, inspections, public education, anti-trafficking enforcement, and worker cooperatives through business fees and a moderate excise tax.
