S-0583.2
SENATE BILL 5312
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By Senators Wellman, Frame, Nobles, and C. Wilson
Read first time 01/16/25. Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
AN ACT Relating to net nanny operations involving fictitious minors; amending RCW 9A.44.140 and 9.94A.507 ; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature declares that all children should be protected from internet-based acts of sexual abuse and harm. The legislature recognizes an increase in recent years in utilizing net nanny sting operations that target adult only dating sites and digital applications where undercover law enforcement officers pose as minors while proactively engaging adults. The legislature finds that these operations can serve a valid purpose in preventing offenses from occurring. The legislature recognizes that these offenses are often charged as attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation of an underlying offense, as the act itself is not commissioned against an existing minor. Individuals who commissioned a predatory offense involving a minor victim could pose a different public safety threat upon release than individuals involved in a sting operation with a fictitious minor.
The legislature finds that registration and supervision requirements that do not take these circumstances into account lack incentives for rehabilitation and can ultimately have a negative impact on public safety after a sentence is served. Therefore, the legislature intends to create registration and supervision requirements specific to this narrow set of individuals who attempt, solicit, or conspire to commit certain offenses against fictitious minors, who have no prior history of predatory offenses against minors, and who spend certain periods of time in the community after release without committing any subsequent disqualifying offenses.