PROVIDENCE, R.I., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Providence, R.I., Mayor David Cicilline says he wants to outlaw indoor prostitution in his city, where the state has no specific law against it.
Cicilline introduced a ordinance Tuesday aimed at controlling prostitution at massage parlors, "spas" and other indoor locations even as the Rhode Island General Assembly is considering proposals to close the apparent legal loophole, The Providence Journal reported.
Rhode Island state law already prohibits street prostitution.
"There is no conflict with what is proposed in this ordinance and what has been enacted already in state law," Cicilline told the newspaper. "The argument has been made that state law supersedes, that local ordinance cannot pre-empt state law.
"But if the General Assembly doesn't enact anything (dealing explicitly with indoor prostitution), then we have not pre-empted anything."
The Journal said the mayor's proposed ordinance amendment requires massage parlors and health clubs, or "spas," to be licensed by the Providence Bureau of Licenses.
