Florida legislation setting minimum age of 21 for exotic dancers has run out of steam

Legislation that would ban younger-than-21 exotic dancers in Florida appears to have only been a (strip) tease.

Despite questions over whether the measure violated the First Amendment rights of workers, the legislation (HB 1379/SB 1690) slid quickly through both chambers earlier in the year.

But now, with a week of session left, both the House and Senate bills are stuck in committees that have no more meetings scheduled, with only an unlikely waiving of legislative rules allowing for them to move further forward.

Proponents said the proposal was meant to combat human trafficking.

The 21-year-old minimum didn't just apply to strippers. Anyone working for an "adult entertainment establishment" would have been affected.

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The term refers to adult bookstores and theaters, unlicensed massage establishments and “special cabarets.” (Those are, under state law, “any business that features persons who engage in specific sexual activities for observation by patrons, and which restricts or purports to restrict admission only to adults.”)

The legislation also criminalized those who "knowingly" employed someone younger than 21 years old at such an establishment, though the Senate version added that "ignorance of another person’s age or a person’s misrepresentation of his or her age may not be raised as a defense in a prosecution for a violation of this section."

To be sure, the issue isn't going away in Florida. After years of litigation, a Jacksonville ordinance took effect last February when U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Corrigan upheld the decision to create a mandatory registration for performers and raise the minimum age for exotic dancers.

But that litigation continues, with that decision under appeal. Club owners say the ordinance violates the Constitution and state law.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule on it in the coming months, a decision that could set a major First Amendment precedent on the regulation of expression.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com. On X: @DouglasSoule.