Fiscal Summary

Other Fiscal Impact – Expanding the offense of observation without consent could jeopardize federal funding to the Department of Finance and Administration of approximately $38,643,200 in FY21-22 and subsequent years.

Bill Summary

Under present law, it is an offense (observation without consent) for a person to knowingly spy upon, observe or otherwise view an individual, when the individual is in a place where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, without the prior effective consent of the individual, if the viewing:

(1) Would offend or embarrass an ordinary person if the person knew the person was being viewed; and

(2) Was for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification of the defendant.

If the person being viewed is a minor, the offense is committed regardless of whether the minor or the minor's parent or guardian consented to the viewing.

This bill adds, for purposes of the above-described offense, that an ordinary person in a single-sex, multi-person use restroom, locker room, dressing room, or shower:

(A) Has a reasonable expectation of privacy from a member of the opposite sex; and

(B) Would be offended or embarrassed if the person knew that the person was being viewed by a member of the opposite sex.

This bill specifies that, for purposes of the above, a person's sex is the sex listed on the person's birth certificate.

Under present law, the observation without consent is a Class A misdemeanor, unless the victim is under 13 years of age at the time the offense is committed, in which case it is a Class E felony.

This bill adds that a first violation under the circumstances added by this bill will be a Class C misdemeanor and a second or subsequent violation under such circumstances will be a Class B misdemeanor.