There's a push to stop sexual solicitation and abuse before it starts.

Representative Marianne Proctor is sponsoring a bill to criminalize predators for grooming children.

That bill was filed today.

Right now, we do not have any statutes that protects our children from this predatory behavior that occurs prior to physical sexual abuse.

So with House Bill, for not only will we criminalize it, but we will hold the offenders accountable.

There's kind of two levels that we look at.

One is if you're not in a position of authority or trust, if you're having a communication with someone who's under the age of 14, we think that in and of itself, there's very few reasons for someone maybe outside of a family member or someone to be having that.

However, if you are in a position of trust, such as a coach, teacher, a youth leader, something like that, if you make any types of those behaviors to anyone who's under the age of 18 and as because of laws that have been passed by the General Assembly even last year, we know that people in these positions of trust, they're their official and appropriate means of communication, that they should be communicating with these people.

And it's hard to give you a strict say when someone does this, this will be grooming.

It's going to be circumstantial.

How are they communicating to this person?

Why are they communicating this person to this person?

Have any reason to be asking these questions or doing these things?

All those things factor together.

I think what makes.

Quote unquote grooming difficult is it looks so different when we're talking about victims who are children versus victims who are adults.

Grooming for children looks like building relationships, being kind.

Making children trust you.

And so, you know, I think the fact that we're we are calling this out and we are naming it is a big success at this point.

I have heard from so many people since this bill has come out from across the Commonwealth, people telling me their stories.

There's people that are in this room today that have been inspirational for this bill.

It's our most valuable asset to our children.

I feel like.

If Pass Representative Proctor says Kentucky would be one of 13 states that have legislated legislation to protect children from grooming.