FRANKFORT — In a full bipartisan sweep, the Kentucky Senate unanimously passed a bill aimed at protecting children from sexual extortion Wednesday.?

Senate Bill 73, which makes sextual extortion — or sextortion — a felony, now heads to the House.?

The bill would also make it easier to collect legal damages from a perpetrator and require schools to educate children about what sextortion is.?

A floor amendment to the bill clarifies this education has to be done in an age-appropriate way. In fourth and fifth grade, that is “a direct communication with the parents,” sponsor Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, said. From the sixth grade on, educational materials would be in schools.?

Kentucky urged to increase criminal penalties, education to protect kids from ‘sextortion’

Sexual extortion, or “sextortion,” is when a perpetrator obtains a sexually explicit photo and threatens to release it if the victim doesn’t meet their demands, which could be monetary, sexual or other kinds of blackmail.??

Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, said the legislation is “long overdue” while explaining his vote of support.?

“There has to be things put in place when we have these vultures taking advantage of these children,” he said. “It is necessary for the state to act.”?

Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, R-Lexington, agreed. “As a mom of teenagers, I have been shocked at what goes on in our elementary schools, our middle schools, our high schools, as kids get access to technology sooner and sooner than previously,” she said.?

“It’s happened in my own home with my own kids. It’s happened to friends of ours’ kids. In an age of technology, when it’s not a picture, it’s a video created out of nothing that a middle school kid can put together on a reel, share virally among school before someone even knows or a parent ever sees it,” Mays Bledsoe said. “This is really important to give law enforcement the tools they need to protect our kids.”