Chairman Neufeld and Members of the Kansas House Federal & State Affairs Committee:
Concerned Women for America of Kansas is testifying in favor of HB 2633, the Community Defense Act. As the largest public policy women's organization in the United States, we have a vested interest in furthering public policy that puts boundaries around businesses that subjugate women. A society that regulates tobacco products, drugs, and even proposes to regulate American's diets by limiting fats and salt should have no problem in regulating an industry that is the source of drugs, prostitution, disease and misery not to mention the destruction of families and marriages.

We are concerned about the young women who enter the industry of sexually-oriented businesses, often as waitresses, hostesses, etc. but then are lured into dancing by managers who entice them with promises of money and admiration by the patrons. According to testimony given to the Michigan House Committee of Ethics and Constitutional Law on January 12, 2000, by David Sherman, former manager of various strip clubs, drug and alcohol abuse are rampant among the employees of these establishments. By self- admission the women dancers (usually girls 18-21) take drugs to "numb themselves", "to fill a void"; this drug use usually escalates as they grow older and encounter more competition for patron's favors. He testified that part of the "management's" job is to groom young girls as potential dancers, to get them to feel at home and among friends before they ask them to dance "as a favor." Abuse by managers and patrons is common; women and girls are often coerced into performing "favors" for special customers by managers who don't want to lose their business. Women who strip are usually considered independent contractors, renting their dancing space or booths. Sometimes they end up paying up to 30 percent of their income just to work, not counting the tips they must pay to busboys, bouncers, bar-tenders, etc. They pay their own insurance, social security, taxes, etc. This former manager freely admits in his testimony that girls as young as 14 or 15 are working in these clubs; often they are the victims of human trafficking. As the clubs proliferate, the need for dancers and prostitutes escalates; the demand cannot be met by normal supply so traffickers bring in new supplies of girls. Sexually-oriented businesses contribute to crime, drug abuse, and facilitate sexual offenders who often own these businesses, not to mention the desensitization, degradation and destruction brought upon the young girls and women who work in them.

The restriction in hours of operation will help curb many of the illegal activities such as drug-dealing, solicitation and illegal dances brought about by the intoxication of both dancers and patrons. It will also help ensure that entertainers and employees will have safer places to work, and communities will be safer places to live and work. Many of the women feel they are forced by lack of education or lack of other job opportunities to work in these establishments. By limiting work hours, they could have the time to complete their education, find other job opportunities or be able to spend more time with their children and families. It will curb the enormous amount of cash flowing away from the families of patrons into club owner's pockets.

In closing, CWA of Kansas urges the Kansas Legislature to put in place public policies such as the Community Defense Act to protect women and young girls, to curb the detrimental effect these establishments have on families and to make Kansas a better place to live and work.

Concerned Women for America of Kansas
P. O. Box 11233
Shawnee Mission, KS 66207
Phone/Fax: 913-491-1380
Email: director@kansas.cwfa.org
Web site: kansas.cwfa.org