U.S. House of Representatives Sponsor: Rep. Debra Haaland (D-NM) Summary: To increase intergovernmental coordination to identify and combat violent crime within Indian lands and of Indians. Status: 5/1/2019 – Introduced and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition, to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be determined subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the Committee concerned. Sponsor: Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro (D-NV) Cosponsors: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jon Tester (D-MT), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Jerry Moran (R-KS). Summary: To increase intergovernmental coordination to identify and combat violent crime within Indian lands and of Indians. Status: 4/2/2019 – Introduced.
Sponsor: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) Summary: A bill to address the threat to national security from illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and associated illegal activity, to prevent the illegal trade of seafood and seafood products. Status: 5/1/2019 – Introduced.
Sponsor: Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) Summary: To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to include financial criminal activities associated with the facilitation of severe forms of trafficking in persons within the factors considered as indicia of serious and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons, and for other purposes. Status: 4/9/2019 – Introduced. / 4/9/2019 – Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. / 4/26/2019 – Referred to the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.
Sponsor: Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) Summary: To amend the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 with respect to the human rights and labor standards, and for other purposes. Status: 5/23/2019 – Introduced. / 5/23/2019 – Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdictions of the committee concerned.
Sponsor: Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) Summary: To provide for the vacating of certain convictions and expungement of certain arrests of victims of human trafficking. Status: 7/5/2019– Introduced. / 7/5/2019 – Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
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H.R. 295, End Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2019
Sponsor: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, (R-PA)
Summary: This bill - Adds the Secretary of the Treasury as a member of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking;
- Requires the Task Force to submit recommendations to Congress for the revision of anti-money laundering programs to specifically target money laundering related to human trafficking;
- Requires the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council to review and enhance procedures improving the ability of anti-money laundering programs to target human trafficking operations; and
- Updates the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report to require a country-by-country assessment of whether foreign governments have established a functioning legal framework to prevent financial transactions involving the proceeds of severe forms of human trafficking.
Status: 01/8/2019– Introduced.
H.R. 467, Reducing the Demand for Human Trafficking Act of 2019
Sponsor: Rep. Adam Kinzinger, (R-IL)
Summary: This legislation would amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to allow the Attorney General to make grants to state and local law enforcement that are prioritizing their own efforts to reduce demand for human trafficking through the investigation and prosecution of persons who solicit or patronize these illicit services. Essentially, this bill would incentivize law enforcement to go after the buyers in the human trafficking industry as well as the suppliers.
Status: 1/10/2019 – Introduced.
H.R. 502, Fight Illicit Networks and Detect Trafficking Act or the FIND Trafficking Act
Sponsor: Rep. Juan Vargas, (D-CA)
Summary: This bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on the use of virtual currencies and online marketplaces in sex and drug trafficking. The GAO must study topics including how illicit proceeds are transferred into the U.S. banking system, state and non-state actors that participate in such activity, preventative efforts from federal and state agencies, and the extent to which the unique characteristics of virtual currencies can contribute to the tracking and prosecution of illicit funding.
Status: 01/28/2019–Passed/agreed to in House. On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended. Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 412-3 (Roll no. 53).
H.R. 507, Put Trafficking Victims First Act of 2019
Sponsor: Rep. Karen Bass, (D-CA)
Summary: This bill - Expresses the sense of Congress that law enforcement set aside a portion of the funds they receive for combatting human trafficking to ensure that victims receive support that is trauma-informed and victim-centered;
- Directs the Attorney General to form a broadly-representative working group to assess the status of the collection of data on human trafficking and recommend best practices, conduct a survey of survivors regarding the provision of services to them, as well as prepare a report to Congress on Federal efforts to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking, the effectiveness of current policies addressing victim needs, and analyzing the demographic characteristics of trafficking victims and recommendations on how to address their unique vulnerabilities;
- Directs the Attorney General to implement a pilot project testing the methodologies identified by the working group and requires the Attorney General to report on efforts to increase restitution to victims of human trafficking; and
- Expresses the sense of Congress that States should implement trauma-informed, victim-centered care for all trafficking victims
Status: 2/7/2019– Passed/agreed to in House. On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended. Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 414-1 (Roll no. 71).
H.R. 509, Human Trafficking Accountability Act
Sponsor: Rep. Joyce Beatty, (D-OH)
Summary: This bill directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to designate at least one Human Trafficking Coordinator in each federal judicial district to implement the National Strategy for Combatting Human Trafficking and to prosecute cases, conduct outreach, and enforce laws related to human trafficking; and a National Human Trafficking Coordinator within DOJ to coordinate, promote, and support DOJ's work related to human trafficking.
Status: 1/11/2019 – Introduced.
H.R. 836, Interdiction for the Protection of Child Victims of Exploitation and Human Trafficking Act
Sponsor: Rep. Michael McCaul, (R-TX)
Summary: This bill establishes the Interdiction for the Protection of Child Victims of Exploitation and Human Trafficking Program to train law enforcement officers to identify and assist victims of child exploitation and human trafficking.
Status: 1/29/2019 – Introduced. 116th Congress U.S. Senate Sponsor: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) Summary: A bill to reauthorize activities of the Maritime Administration, and for other purposes. Status: 5/14/2019 – Introduced.
Sponsor: Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) Summary: Among other things, strengthens cooperation between the U.S., Mexican and Central America law enforcement by establishing new partnerships to target smugglers and traffickers; requires the Attorney General and DHS Secretary to investigate and prosecute human smuggling and trafficking children, and creates new criminal penalties for smugglers. Status: 5/1/2019 – Introduced.
Sponsor: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Summary: To ensure that persons who form corporations in the United States disclose the beneficial owners of those corporations, in order to prevent the formation of corporations with hidden owners, stop the misuse of United States corporations by wrongdoers, and assist law enforcement in detecting, preventing, and punishing terrorism, money laundering, tax evasion, and other criminal and civil misconduct involving United States corporations, and for other purposes. Status: 6/18/2019 – Introduced.
S. 169, Human Trafficking Survivor Tax Relief Act
Sponsor: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Description: This bill modifies the requirements for calculating taxable income to exclude from gross income civil damages, restitution, or other monetary awards (including compensatory or statutory damages and restitution imposed in a criminal matter) awarded to victims of peonage, slavery, or human trafficking.
Status: 1/16/2019 – Introduced.
S. 251, Interdiction for the Protection of Child Victims of Exploitation and Human Trafficking Act
Sponsor: Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro (D-NV)
Summary: This bill establishes the Interdiction for the Protection of Child Victims of Exploitation and Human Trafficking Program to train law enforcement officers to identify and assist victims of child exploitation and human trafficking.
Status: 1/29/2019 – Introduced.
S. 410, Fight Illicit Networks and Detect Trafficking Act or the FIND Trafficking Act
Sponsor: Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro (D-NV)
Summary: To require the Comptroller General of the United States to carry out a study on how virtual currencies and online marketplaces are used to buy, sell, or facilitate the financing of goods or services associated with sex trafficking or drug trafficking, and for other purposes.
Status: 2/7/2019 – Introduced. |
