ST. PAUL – Legislation Rep. Bernie Perryman, R-St. Cloud, authored to crack down on sex trafficking at adult entertainment businesses and massage parlors passed the House without opposition Thursday.
Current state law allows law enforcement agencies to conduct only Minnesota criminal background checks on adult entertainment or massage license applications. Perryman said this limitation has allowed sex traffickers to operate out of numerous Minnesota locations, including a Waite Park business in her district.
Perryman said her bill (H.F. 286) expands the scope for background checks for these businesses to include national data, a move she said would strengthen the licensing process and is part of a broader push from the House GOP to protect those who are victims of sex crimes and sex trafficking.
“We have had people come to Minnesota to set up a sex trafficking business while posing as a legitimate massage business,” Perryman said. “There was a massage parlor business that opened in our area a few years ago after the city of Waite Park did not find any issues with the licensee applicants in a state background check. However, if the city would have had access to national background check information, they would have found that the applicants were part of a multi-state sex trafficking operation.
“My bill will allow that information to be discovered so we can have a tighter process and protect our local communities from these dangerous criminal operations. Allowing national searches to take place would help us learn if a person had a previous arrest in another state that would disqualify the applicant from receiving a massage license in Minnesota.”
Perryman said the bill is part of a broader push from the House GOP to protect those who are victims of sex crimes and sex trafficking. White Bear Lake Democrat Rep. Brion Curran helped the bill gain bipartisan support by co-authoring the proposal after a similar situation was reported in her area.
Perryman's bill passed the House 132-0 and is in the hands of the Senate, where Sen. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville, has authored the companion bill.
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