PROVIDENCE — Mayor David N. Cicilline, who runs the city at the center of the state’s illegal sex trade, is urging the state Senate to act on legislation that would ban prostitution, following the House of Representatives’ overwhelming passage last week of a bill that would make prostitution and soliciting sex illegal “regardless of the time, place or location.”

In a letter to members of the Senate Judicial Committee, Cicilline said he supports a bill sponsored by Sen. Paul V. Jabour, D-Providence, which is similar, but not identical to, the House bill.

Cicilline said he also supports a bill by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, that imposes stiffer penalties for the trafficking of minors for sex than the current law. Both bills are currently before the Judicial Committee, but no date has been set for a public hearing or vote.

“The industry permitted by our ill-advised laws continues to flourish. We are and will continue to be a haven –– in fact a magnet — for this activity. We offer the legal equivalent of a welcome mat for commercial sex,” Cicilline said in his letter.

The mayor also asked the Senate to consider taking the law further. He wants a law that penalizes landlords that knowingly rent to brothel operators, grants immunity from prosecution to prostitutes who were forced into the sex trade and funds police training and prostitute rehabilitation programs through the seizure of brothel assets.

Holding landlords responsible for brothels is currently proposed in Jabour’s bill, but was not included in the House-approved bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence.

Jabour’s Senate bill, though, lacks the language to grant immunity for prostitutes forced into the trade, which was included in Giannini’s bill. Neither bill addresses police training and prostitute rehabilitation programs.

“The bills before the General Assembly are an important first step,” Cicilline said in an interview Monday. “I wouldn’t want to suggest anything that would impede the passage of that legislation. But these are really important suggestions that should be considered in future legislation, if not now.”

Cicilline’s voice has been noticeably quiet as the prostitution issue has gained momentum on Smith Hill this year, even though the mayor says his administration has been following the legislature’s discussions closely.

In recent years, Cicilline has made combating prostitution one of his administration’s top priorities.

City officials in 2006 began to crack down on brothels by enforcing city fire, housing and building codes, but because of an apparent loophole in the state law –– which allowed prostitution behind closed doors –– the city’s efforts were limited.

The city even created an outreach team with a female Korean translator, sexual assault counselors and legal experts to try and persuade prostitutes to leave the sex trade.

But in his letter to the Senate, Cicilline says the city found prostitutes were unwilling to cooperate: “So complete is the power of those who control the women that not a single person has accepted our offer of help.”

pmarcelo@projo.com