WASHINGTON —聽The Montgomery County聽Council has聽voted to amend聽laws and penalties pertaining to聽prostitution, tobacco sales to minors and聽radon testing.
New prostitution penalties target people聽buying sex
Montgomery County police now have alternative methods of enforcement. At an officer’s discretion someone聽soliciting聽sex聽can be charged with either a civil or criminal offense.
“Prostitution is increasingly in this day and age a vehicle for human trafficking, probably more so than ever and聽this gives us a new tool to deal with it,” says Councilman Marc Elrich.
Similar to聽traffic violations,聽civil fines for buying sex could be聽paid immediately with violators choosing not to go to court. The theory for how that would reduce human trafficking and prostitution is that if you make penalties聽more expensive, fewer people will risk doing it and demand will go down.
Civil penalties for a first offense聽now are up to $500. Subsequent offenses could be fined up to $750. Criminal penalties for soliciting prostitution now can include jail time of up to six months and a fine of up to $1,000.
Tobacco sales to minors
Montgomery County is doubling the penalty for selling tobacco products to minors. A first offense previously punishable with a fine of up to $500聽now can聽cost up to $1,000. Penalties for subsequent offenses can go up to $750.
“One of the questions we had was whether or not we’d be able to actually聽adequately enforce this new fine and penalty,” Council member Craig Rice says. “We’re appreciative of the bill that Del. Luedtke has put in that would actually bring more additional money to the county to be able to help enforce this.”
The proposed by Del. Eric聽G. Luedtke (D-Md.) would increase fees for a county license to sell cigarettes with a portion of the proceeds going toward enforcement.
Radon rule changes聽for single-family home sales
Radon is a聽cancer-causing聽gas you can鈥檛 see, taste or smell and聽is聽the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, according to the.
Montgomery County’s new radon rule requires sellers to perform a test and inform聽buyers of the results before settlement. Maryland聽law does not require聽sellers to determine if their home has radon issues prior to sale.
“This is already part of the purchase process, anyways. It is a purchaser choice to make this a condition of a sale,” says Council member Nancy Floreen. “It continues to be a negotiated element.”
Council member Rice says聽free radon test kits should be made available to residents who聽can’t afford聽them during聽“” in January聽— as he says happens in Pennsylvania.
“We’re going to be looking at working with vendors to be able to do that as well,” Rice says.
