BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2810
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2810 (Brownley)
As Amended August 18, 2008
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(May 22, 2008) |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 22, |
| | | | | |2008) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Grants victims of human trafficking specified rights.
The Senate amendments double-joint this bill with AB 38 (Nava),
AB 3038 (Tran) and SB 1145 (Machado).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act
which provides civil and criminal penalties for trafficking in
human beings, allows for forfeiture of assets derived from
human trafficking, makes legislative findings and requires law
enforcement agencies to provide Law Enforcement Agency
Endorsement to trafficking victims, creates California
Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery Task Force, and
provides restitution to victims.
2)Provides that human trafficking involving adults is punishable
by imprisonment up to five years and up to eight years for
human trafficking of a minor.
3)Defines the term "severe forms of trafficking in persons" as,
among other things, sex trafficking in which a commercial sex
act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the
person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years
of age.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Added a human trafficking victim to the list of victims whose
names and addresses may be withheld from disclosure at the
request of the victim or the guardian of the victim. Includes
victims of human trafficking in the list of victims who must
AB 2810
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be informed by law enforcement of their rights not to have
their personal information disclosed.
2)Stated law enforcement agencies shall use due diligence to
identify all victims of human trafficking regardless of the
citizenship of the person. When a peace officer comes into
contact with a person who has been deprived of his/her
personal liberty, a person suspected of violating specified
prostitution offenses, or a victim of a crime of domestic
violence or rape, the peace officer shall consider whether the
following indicators of human trafficking are present:
a) Signs of trauma, fatigue, injury, or other evidence of
poor care;
b) The person is withdrawn, afraid to talk, or his/her
communication is censored by another person;
c) The person does not have freedom of movement;
d) The person lives and works in one place;
e) The person owes a debt to his or her employer;
f) Security measures are used to control who has contact
with the person; or,
g) The person does not have control over his/her own
government issued identification or over his/her worker
immigration documents.
3)Declared human trafficking, also known as "trafficking in
persons," is modern-day slavery that comes in many forms and
is relatively ignored despite its effects on the world in
pandemic proportions. Men, women, and children are trafficked
into forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.
4)Stated, according to the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP
report, 2005), published by the United States (U.S.) Office to
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, approximately
600,000 to 800,000 persons are trafficked across international
borders each year with up to 12.3 million in bondage at any
given moment. The report also estimates that about 80% of
these persons are women and girls, and 50% are under 18 years
of age.
AB 2810
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5)Found that those numbers, however, do not include the millions
of people who are trafficked within their own national
borders. When the numbers of those being trafficked both
internationally and intranationally are combined, the number
of victims could increase to four million. Somewhere between
17,500 and 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the
U.S. annually, mainly for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
6)Declared sex trafficking is highly profitable and makes up to
an excess of $12 billion annually.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Trafficking into the United
States is an acknowledged problem, but often ignored is the fact
that trafficking of American citizens also occurs domestically
within U.S. borders. Law enforcement personnel, social workers,
and legal personnel must be trained to understand that American
Citizens as well as non-citizens are trafficked within the
United States."
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744 FN:
0007312