Law to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation Goes Into Effect

DENVER, CO – Legislation to update and strengthen Colorado’s criminal statutes regarding commercial sexual activity with a child will go into effect July 1, 2026. 

SB26-015, sponsored by Senator Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, and Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, modernizes outdated terminology and increases penalties for crimes relating to sexual exploitation of a child. 

“Children deserve protection, dignity, and justice,” said Roberts. “This bill is a targeted approach to address a gap in current law that can allow those who have sexually exploited children to avoid jail time. It creates a new floor, strengthening protections for children and ensuring accountability for those who buy children for sex. It also modernizes language to make it clear that children are never at fault in these cases.”

"With our bipartisan law going into effect, we are holding traffickers accountable and protecting children," said Duran. "For too long, people who sexually exploit children have benefited from confusing and unclear statutes to evade accountability. This law removes outdated terms, brings clarity to Colorado statute and increases penalties for traffickers and buyers to hold dangerous people accountable and protect Colorado children."

Also sponsored by Senator Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, and Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, R-Monument, the law replaces outdated terms related to “child prostitution” with the more accurate “commercial sexual activity with a child,” reframing these offenses to emphasize the exploitation of children.

SB26-015 also increases penalties for such offenses. Beginning July 1, 2026, it requires a minimum of 364 days of jail time as a condition of probation if an offender is charged with soliciting commercial sexual activity with a child. It increases penalties for other crimes related to commercial sexual activity with a child, requiring courts to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of the lower end of the sentencing range, which is currently four years for a class 3 felony. Lastly, the law creates a new class 3 felony for the crime of internet luring of a child with intent to meet a child for commercial sexual activity.