(WWLP/22 News) Time is running out at the State House in this legislative cycle. There’s less than a week left to get business finished here on Beacon Hill, and on Thursday the Senate advanced a revenge porn bill.
In Massachusetts, there is a loophole in state law that makes prosecuting revenge porn cases nearly impossible. The legislation that advanced this week is looking to close that loophole. The bill would also give more options to law enforcement in how they can handle minors who exchange explicit images of themselves with other minors.
Anyone who is found distributing sexually explicit images of another person without their consent could be charged with a new criminal offense or fined up to $5,000. More votes are necessary in getting the legislation to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. For Senator John Velis, this bill is a priority because of the victims.
“I mean you want to talk about something that takes someone’s mental well-being, and just puts them into a tail spin, it’s awful, it’s reprehensible conduct and it needs to be outlined. There needs to be stiff penalties for doing this,” said Senator Velis.
Time is ticking when it comes to the Senate. They don’t plan to meet until Tuesday of next week, which is the last day of the session. When the session ends, all bills that have not been sent to the Governor die and will need to be re-started in the new session. Massachusetts is only one of 2 states in the entire country without a clear ban in place