A Wyoming legislative committee meeting Monday in Cheyenne advanced a bill seeking to criminalize exploitative child “grooming.”

The 13 members of the legislative Joint Judiciary Committee who were present all voted in favor of sending the bill into the 2026 lawmaking session, which opens Feb. 9.

The draft published in the meeting materials would make it a felony to take actions that prepare, induce or persuade a minor to engage in sexual conduct or exploitation, “even if no meeting or sexual conduct is completed.”

It contemplates maximum penalties of 10 years, 25 years, or life in prison depending on the victim’s age.

People convicted of grooming would also have to complete a sexual offender treatment program and could be assigned to up to 10 years’ probation under the version that le

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