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Lawmakers have asked the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to study the effects of decriminalizing sex work.
The request comes on the heels of last year’s failed effort to bring the issue to Oregon voters. Advocates like the American Civil Liberties Union say decriminalization would improve working conditions for sex workers and reduce violence.
The idea has many prominent Portland backers, including state Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland) who sponsored legislation in 2021 that would have invalidated the state’s prostitution statutes. But that bill never received widespread support.
The following year, Portland philanthropist Aaron Boonshoft used his Ohio commodities-trading fortune to fund a ballot initiative campaign to strike prostitution statutes from Oregon’s criminal code. The effort drew significant opposition from critics who said it would enable sex trafficking, and Boonshoft withdrew the initiative petition.
The latest move by lawmakers to consider the issue is included in a “budget note” attached to Senate Bill 5506, an end-of-session appropriations bill. “The Criminal Justice Commission is directed to study the advantages and disadvantages of decriminalizing the crime of prostitution and provide a report on the study...no later than September 2024,” it reads.
An amendment to the bill allocates $100,000 toward the study, as well as $500,000 to Oregon Health & Science University to perform a “public health study on the effects of current laws and policies on people in the sex trade in the state of Oregon.”
The bill is now set for a June 20 work session in the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Capital Construction and is expected to pass this week.