TOPEKA — A bill passed by the Kansas House on Wednesday would land people convicted of hiring a prostitute on the state's sex offender list for 10 years.

Many states, including Kansas, already require sex offender registration for those soliciting minors. Some states, such as California, give judges the discretion to require registration in solicitation cases.

But adding solicitation to the crimes requiring offender registration would be a significant expansion of the offender registry, critics said.

The penalty was added to legislation meant to crack down on human traffickers. Rep. Mike Slattery, the Mission Democrat who sponsored the amendment, said the idea was to reduce demand for prostitution, often linked to human trafficking.

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