Fines for city ‘johns’ to be raised
Council also amends proposal to give judges choice of imposing jail
The Columbus City Council voted 5-2 Monday to progressively increase fines for “johns” who purchase sex in the city, but amended the proposed legislation to give judges discretion whether to impose jail sentences of up to 15 days for repeat offenders.
“We don’t want a city where the average fine for soliciting sex is about 70 bucks, half the cost of a speeding ticket,” Christopher Stollar, a board member of She Has A Name, an organization that fights human trafficking, told council members. Stollar has worked directly with people who have been arrested for soliciting through the “John School” program in Columbus.
President Pro Tem Elizabeth Brown and council member Shayla Favor voted against the ordinance.
“I strongly believe there needs to be a greater focus on reducing criminal penalties for the vulnerable individuals involved in sex work, whether it’s by trafficking or by choice,” Favor said.
“My pledge is to continue to focus on helping the women who turn to sex work.” Brown said.
Council member Emmanuel Remy, who supported the increase penalties on sex purchasers, said it was important to him that the proposed mandatory jail sentences were eliminated in favor of judicial discretion on incarceration.
The ordinance will establish a sexual exploitation offense while increasing penalties for individuals who are found guilty of purchasing sex, and will allocate those fines into a “Victims of Human Trafficking Fund.” Money from the fund would be distributed to area agencies to support shelters, medical treatment, and counseling services for victims of human trafficking.
Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. The National Human Trafficking Hotline ranks Ohio 5th in cases of human trafficking, “with Columbus representing the largest sex trafficking market in the state,” the ordinance states.
Under the new ordinance, individuals charged with sexual exploitation could be subject to a minimum fine of $300 for
their first offense. If within five years a person becomes a repeat offender, the penalty increases to $550, and a judge “may,” rather than “shall,” impose a sentence of 10 days in jail for a second offense. Any subsequent offense conviction would be an $800 fine and a potential 15-day jail sentence.
The city will review the impact of the changes after two years.
Columbus police Deputy Chief Jennifer Knight and other police officials and advocates for sex workers have been pushing for harsher penalties for those buying sex for several months, pointing out that the fines imposed under the current law average $74.
“Individuals who purchase sex exploit the most vulnerable members of our community without any substantial consequences,” the background report for the ordinance stated, adding that experts “identify significant penalties as a critical factor in changing behavior.”
Because it takes six of the seven council members to pass an ordinance on “emergency,” which allows it to take effect immediately upon receiving the mayor’s signature, the ordinance will be city law in 30 days.
On another matter, the city council learned that Columbus was on the winning side of a court settlement with Firstenergy Corp. over its lawsuit with Cincinnati against House Bill 6, the focus of a pay-to-play scandal that would have required Ohio electric users to pay a $900 million corporate bailout of two nuclear power plants formerly owned by Firstenergy in northern Ohio.
Federal prosecutors allege the bailout was the offspring of a bribery and deception scheme under which Firstenergy is accused of pumping $60 million into a dark money account called Generation Now that was allegedly controlled by former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.
Householder and other state Republican officials and lobbyists have been indicted as a result of a federal investigation into the bailout, which former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio David Devillers said “is likely the largest bribery, money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.”
The cities’ lawsuit said HB 6 was the direct result of bribery, served no public purpose and was an unconstitutional tax. The facts cited by the cities also noted that “special legislation” giving unique benefits to one individual or business is unconstitutional under Ohio law.
“This is a case where the city of Columbus is actually receiving attorney fees from a defendant,” Klein told council members on Monday. The settlement provides $240,000, of which the two cities each receive $35,750 to compensate for the work of its attorneys, while the rest goes to a private Chicago law firm hired to assist in the case. In other business, the council:
h Authorized another $1 million in federal rental assistance to be distributed by IMPACT Community Action. Hannah Jones, the city’s deputy director of community development, told the council that some residents have reached their 15-month limit of the first round of federal housing assistance. For the second round, in which the city qualifies for $12.8 million, those residents can receive an additional three months of rent. “To date we have provided approximately $36 million in funding for rental assistance in our community,” Jones said, adding that landlords can also directly apply to receive payments.
h Approved a contract with Franklin County where the two entities will plow and salt portions of the others’ roadways to increase efficiency when the snow flies this winter. “Under the agreement, each entity is responsible for tracking the labor, equipment, and materials used in order to determine the cost for all snow plow and ice removal activities performed.” Because the county typically services more city roads than vice versa, the city encumbered up to $700,000, the estimate for what the deal will cost Columbus. wbush@gannett.com @Reporterbush