Cohen's strip club fee bill passes in the House

Rep. Ellen Cohen is all grown up and getting her legislation passed. The freshman Democrat from Houston proposed a bill that would add a $5 tax to strip club entry fees, and it passed in the Texas House yesterday in a 110-28 vote. The "sin tax" is expected to generate $87 million in revenue, $18 million of which will be used to fund women's crisis centers and sexual assault education.

Strip club managers opposed the bill, arguing that it implied that their patrons commit sexual crimes more often than anyone else. Cohen countered this by saying that money generated by sexually oriented business should pay for sexually oriented crimes. The bill faced no serious opposition in the House.

Of the 254 counties in Texas, 54 are without rape crisis centers. Money from this tax would take care of that issue. Sen. Royce West of Dallas has proposed a similar bill in the Senate and is optimistic about its passage: "There's broad-based support for it in the Senate. It will be interesting to hear the argument against it. I would think that a fee charged to see women exhibit their bodies would be welcomed by those that frequent those establishments. A portion of the money they spend would go to worthwhile cause."

Photo from Flickr user Charles Chopper Chavez.