PROVIDENCE — The State of Rhode Island has a loophole in its prostitution law big enough to drive a “city bus through,” according to the attorney general’s office.

But that’s hardly news. As has been discussed on talk radio, street corners and the halls of the General Assembly for years, prostitution is allowed in the Ocean State — as long as it’s performed indoors.

The news may be, however, just how difficult it has been to close the loophole, which allows dozens of suspected brothels to operate across the state, some just a few blocks from the mayor’s office in downtown Providence.

A bill that would have outlawed indoor prostitution in Rhode Island won House approval last year before dying in the Senate.

And testimony at the House Judiciary Committee last night suggests a tough road ahead for the only piece of legislation proposed this session that aims to close the loophole.

The majority of the witnesses blasted the bill.

Opponents included Nancy Green, a concerned Providence resident.

“I feel like it is very easy to arrest [prostitutes] and toss them in jail,” she said to the small group of legislators gathered around a long table inside a cramped committee room. “I want to see us go after people at the top.”

Green’s concerns were echoed by a young social worker, a policy analyst, and the head of the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. They all said that the bill would unfairly target the prostitutes, who opponents say are often forced into prostitution.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Joanne M. Giannini, D-Cranston, would specifically outlaw indoor prostitution and outline penalties for brothel owners and “Johns” — the prostitutes’ customers. The first offense would be considered a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of at least $250.

Giannini was visibly upset when she addressed the committee after her bill was repeatedly criticized.

“My intent was never to punish the women with this bill,” she said. “I’ve added the pimps and the people who own the buildings … and the Johns. When was the last time you saw a John in the paper?”

Shaking her head incredulously after her testimony, Giannini dismissed the opponents as those who would rather see prostitution legalized.

“They’ve had two years to come up with a solution,” she said of her peers in the Assembly. “The solution they’ve come up with is ‘Do nothing.’ ”

In an interview earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed said she hasn’t seen Giannini’s latest proposal, but that she has serious concerns about past efforts to close the prostitution loophole.

“The concern I’ve always had has been that by focusing on the women on this issue, we are only focusing on half the problem,” she said. “I’d rather see better enforcement of the laws that are on the books.”

Prostitution is illegal in this state. Rhode Island General law 11-34-8 defines prostitution as “loitering for indecent purposes: It shall be unlawful for any person to stand or wander in or near any public highway or street, or any public or private place, and attempt to engage passersby in conversation, or stop or attempt to stop motor vehicles, for the purpose of prostitution or other indecent act, or to patronize, induce, or otherwise secure a person to commit any indecent act.”

But the attorney general’s office believes that the current law isn’t adequate.

“You could drive a city bus through the loophole in the prostitution law,” spokesman Michael Healey said.

Joee M. Lindbeck, of the attorney general’s legislation and policy unit, said that the law applies only to outdoor prostitution because it defines the crime using the word “loitering” — an activity she said can only take place outside.

The current law gives the police few options, even when dealing with known brothels.

Authorities have tried to charge brothel owners with running unlicensed massage parlors. And they have sometimes pursued building-code violations.

“We have absolutely nothing to hold them on,” Lindbeck said. “We don’t have proper laws in place to deal with the prostitution. This is not only happening in Providence. It is now in Central Falls. It is now in Pawtucket. It is now in Cranston.”

She cited a federal study that listed 90 American cities found to have forced prostitution labor operations in the past five years. Providence was on the list.

An alleged brothel manager of a Providence massage parlor was arrested last summer along with 30 other people in a massive federal investigation into human-trafficking. The investigation, which originated in New York, exposed a network of brothel madams, middlemen, drivers, and prostitutes working in massage parlors and spas throughout the Northeast.

Two parlors in Providence were mentioned in the federal affidavit — both were lucrative enough for the sex workers to allegedly bring in $18,000 to $20,000 a month.

Giannini has also introduced legislation that would define human trafficking and ban it in Rhode Island. The bill, which also failed in last year’s session, is aimed at those who run an estimated 100 brothels throughout the state by creating a felony charge of “transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing, or obtaining another person for transport for the purpose of making the victim perform prostitution or forced labor.”

The committee didn’t vote on either proposal. The deadline for committees to act on legislation is April 12.

It’s unclear if the bill has enough momentum this year for passage.

Asked whether closing the loophole is a priority this year, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox said, “It’s a priority like any other bill.”

speoples@projo.com