(AP File Photo/Patrick Semansky)
(OLYMPIA, Wash.) — Lawmakers are considering changes to the state’s laws against ‘revenge porn.’
House Bill 1165 would increase the civil penalties for distributing intimate images without the consent of those depicted. It would also make threatening to release such images a crime.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall (D-Kent).
The only person to testify about the bill during its first hearing on Wednesday was Kaitlin Wolff of the Uniform Law Commission, which works to make laws consistent from state to state.
Wolff argued in favor of the bill, highlighting its additional protections for victims. “If the defendant posts the intimate image on a website and makes money from that post, the prevailing plaintiff could obtain that net gain,” she told the House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee.
The proposal will get its next hearing on Friday, January 20.
