The Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Monday on legislation that would raise the state's age of consent from 16 to 18, adding protections for minors but potentially increasing criminal cases.

House Bill 101 would add 16- and 17-year-olds to the definition of minors in criminal statutes, joining 12 other states and the District of Columbia with age 18 consent laws. The bill includes a Romeo and Juliet clause with a six-year age gap exception.

Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case told the committee his department expects only a handful or two of additional cases per year as a result of the legislation. Case said the majority of offenders in these types of cases are typically in their late 20s to early 30s.

"These are not pure relationships," Case said. "They're predatory dynamics that take advantage of youth who are still developing emotionally and cognitively."

Case said rural jurisdictions have expressed concern that the bill will increase their workload more than in Anchorage, primarily because families in smaller close-knit communities will be more likely to report to law enforcement.

Brenda Stanfill, executive director of the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, said the bill changes the answer to a question her organization has heard from many parents: how they can protect their 16- or 17-year-old from someone older they believe is exploiting their child.

"What we have had to respond back for many years is there's really nothing you can do," Stanfill said. "This means that a parent could be watching their 16 or 17 year old being sex trafficked and there would be nothing they could do to stop that."

Stanfill said the bill would require that if there is a six-year age difference between the parties, parents can call the police and they will investigate it as a sexual assault. She said she believes there will be an increase in investigations, and hopes it would also increase prosecutions.

"Right now, if I'm a therapist and a 16-year-old who comes in and talks to me and is talking about their 30-year-old boyfriend that they're having consensual sex with, that's not reportable right now," Stanfill said. "If this was to pass, I would then have a requirement to report to law enforcement."

Multiple witnesses emphasized Alaska's status as the state with the highest child sexual abuse and rape rates in the country. Several victim advocates and shelter directors testified in support of the bill, saying it would give law enforcement and prosecutors stronger tools to hold offenders accountable.

Randy Brigger, executive director of Abused Women's Aid in Crisis, testified that the bill would help address the difficulty of proving lack of consent in cases involving 16- and 17-year-olds. Leila Johnson, director of a behavioral health and domestic violence shelter in Hooper Bay, spoke as both a professional and survivor of child sexual abuse in support of the legislation.

The committee took no action on the bill Monday. House Bill 101 passed the Alaska House unanimously and has been in the Senate since May 2025.

This was the third hearing on the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Claman.