Congress rarely passes major legislation with a bipartisan vote, but last year both parties agreed that sex work should no longer be promoted online. Experts and sex workers themselves warned that punishing sites that host prostitution ads would force the industry into dangerous shadows, but Congress ignored them.

Now several progressive members of the Senate and House want the federal government to track the damage that followed the passage of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA ) in the Senate and the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA ) in the House last year.

Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), as well as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), introduced legislation on Tuesday afternoon that would require the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct the first comprehensive study on the health and safety of sex workers across the country. The Safe Sex Workers Study Act would collect data on the violence sex workers have faced since SESTA/FOSTA was signed into law in April 2018 .

We passed these laws without even considering [consensual sex workers] voices. They didnt get to testify in Congress. They didnt get to meet the authors or members of Congress and share their perspectives, Khanna said in a video published Tuesday announcing the legislation.

This bill has criminalized websites and forced many sex workers onto the street, he added. Theyre facing increased violence, increased sexual assault and theyre less safe because they can no longer screen potential clients online.

If the Safe Sex Workers Study Act is passed, Heath and Human Services would be required to report back to Congress with its findings one year after the date of enactment.