TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On Friday, Florida lawmakers approved a bill that would raise the age limit for adult entertainers and push back against human trafficking efforts.
The bill — HB 7063 — would require certain groups to post signs with messaging to spread awareness of human trafficking and the phone number for the Florida Human Trafficking Hotline.
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Those groups include residential treatment centers for minors, massage parlors and “public lodging establishments.”
In addition, the bill would restrict minors from working for vendors licensed under the state’s Beverage Law, unless they’re given a position that doesn’t involve working with alcohol.
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In the Senate, lawmakers attached provisions to the bill that would prohibit anyone under the age of 21 from working in an “adult entertainment establishment,” such as a strip club, adult bookstore or sex shop.
Such a business that hires someone younger than 21 to “perform or work while nude” could face a second-degree felony, according to the bill’s text.
“A person’s ignorance of another person’s age or a person’s misrepresentation of his or her age may not be raised as a defense in prosecution for a violation of this section,” the bill reads.
The House ultimately approved the bill by a vote of 104-3 on Friday, sending it to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
If DeSantis signs the bill into law, it would take effect on July 1.
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