PROVIDENCE — With the nation’s eyes trained on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s alleged involvement with a prostitute, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a bill that would close the loophole in this state’s laws that makes prostitution legal if it occurs indoors.

The proposed legislation has become something of a perennial bill in recent years, but has never been passed by the General Assembly. This year’s version came before the House Judiciary Committee again last night, where its sponsor, Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, argued that extending the state’s misdemeanor prostitution statute to cover indoor activity would make it easier for the police to crack down on suspected brothels.

“A lot of people don’t realize that prostitution is legal in Rhode Island if you do it indoors,” State Police Inspector Stephen Bannon testified. In an accompanying letter, State Police Supt. Col. Brendan P. Doherty noted that under current law, “persons are free to solicit sex for money in newspapers and/or over the Internet as long as the conduct that is agreed upon takes place in private.”

But opponents, including the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, say the bill would unfairly target the women who are forced into prostitution.

The Judiciary Committee took no action last night, though House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, said in a statement that the House plans this session “to look very carefully at closing this loophole once and for all.”

cneedham@projo.com