Washington State Bill to Elevate Buying Sex from a Misdemeanor to a Felony up for a Vote
February 2, 2026
Tomorrow, February 3, 2026, a vote is scheduled for Washington State House Bill 2526, which would elevate the crime of purchasing sex from a low-level misdemeanor to a more serious felony-level offense. The bill would raise the maximum fine from $1,000 to $10,000, and increase the maximum term of confinement from 90 days to five years.
We urge you to support this bill by contacting state legislators in Washington (contact information is provided below) and supporting the organizations fighting for strengthening laws needed to successfully combat the commercial sex trade, including sex trafficking.
The advantages of making the purchase of sex a felony include the following:
Felony level sanctions create a more salient and therefore effective deterrent for potential sex buyers. There is strong evidence that “customers” of prostitution can be deterred by the threat of substantial sanctions.
Felonies can trigger consequences for employment, including mandatory disclosure by job applicants (and resulting disqualification from hiring), and being grounds for automatic termination stated in employee conduct codes. Conversely, misdemeanors need not be disclosed, nor necessarily lead to job loss.
The more severe penalties for felonies (e.g., substantial fines, multiple court appearances, jail or prison stays) can be harder to hide from spouses and employers, adding a layer of “social sanctions” or “extra-legal deterrence.” Conversely, misdemeanors are often cleared by paying fines and complying with deferred prosecution agreements, without any incarceration.
Felonies allow for greater leverage against arrested sex buyers that may be applied for pro-social purposes. For example,
Those facing felony sanctions may be more motivated to assist investigators and prosecutors in making arrests and gaining convictions of human traffickers and violent pimps. Sex buyers are an often-underutilized source of investigative intelligence and evidence about the crimes of sex traffickers, and can be central to “victimless prosecutions,” relieving survivors of the tremendous risks and burdens they often bear in making a strong case.
Those facing felony sanctions may be more motivated to participate in education or treatment programs that reduce recidivism, and such programs can be required rather than voluntary.
Increased fine revenue possible for felonies can better offsets the costs of making arrests of sex buyers, which most often occur from conducting stings or investigations whose resource requirements are more typical for pursuing felonies.
A felony classification provides a greater incentive for law enforcement agencies to arrest sex buyers. Performance metrics for agencies, as well as for individual officers and deputies, count felony arrests and convictions as more important outcomes, and are a more effective use of public resources. In Texas, arrest rates increased substantially throughout the state after the law changed in September, 2021. According to data provided in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting system, the number of arrests for purchasing prostitution in Texas tripled, comparing the three years prior to the bill’s passage to the first three years after passage.
A felony classification makes the crime of purchasing sex proportional to the harms it creates, essentially correcting a historical misclassification.
Here is a link to an excellent opinion piece by a retired judge about the need to fight demand for prostitution everywhere, and in Washington State in particular, and supports HB2526.
We urge anyone to contact the bill’s cosponsors and voice their support for HB2526. Links to the email addresses of its four cosponsors are provided below. We also urge Washington State residents to contact the legislators for their districts to support this bill.
Representative Chris Stearns
Representative Lauren Davis
Representative Lisa Parshley
Representative Mari Leavitt