BILL NUMBER: AB 1730 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Atkins and Eggman
( Principal coauthors:
Assembly Members Olsen and Quirk )
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Burke, Campos, Chiu, Dodd,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gonzalez, and Mark Stone )
JANUARY 28, 2016
An act to add Section 893.5 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to human trafficking.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1730, as amended, Atkins. Human trafficking: minors.
Existing law proscribes the crime of human trafficking, as
defined. A person who causes, induces, or persuades, or attempts to
cause, induce, or persuade, a person who is a minor at the time of
commission of the offense to engage in a commercial sex act, with the
intent to effect or maintain a violation of any of specified sex
offenses, is guilty of human trafficking. Existing law also
proscribes the crime of prostitution.
Existing law authorizes or requires, as specified, the probation
officer of a county to exercise various duties with respect to a
minor who has been found to be within the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court on the ground that he or she has violated a law or
statute, or that he or she has suffered, or there is a substantial
risk that he or she will suffer, abuse or neglect.
Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community
Corrections to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and
technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts and
partnerships in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice
system.
This bill would authorize require the
Board of State and Community Corrections to establish a pilot project
in each of the Counties of Sacramento, San Diego, and Santa Clara,
in which, if the county elects to participate in the pilot project,
the chief probation officer of a the
county would be required to create a program to
provide services to youth within his or her jurisdiction that address
the need for services relating to the commercial sexual exploitation
of youth. The bill would provide that funding for these
purposes shall be the pilot projects established
pursuant to these provisions would be funded contingent upon an
appropriation in the annual Budget Act. The bill would provide that
funds appropriated for these purposes shall be administered by the
Board of State and Community Corrections.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Worldwide, human trafficking is a $32,000,000,000 per year
industry.
(b) After drug trafficking and counterfeiting, it is the world's
most profitable criminal activity.
(c) Although this issue was previously believed to be an
international problem, current statistics show that human trafficking
is increasingly a domestic issue.
(d) According to estimates by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), human trafficking or the commercial sexual exploitation of
children in the United States currently involves over 100,000
children. The San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, and San Diego
metropolitan areas comprise three of the nation's 13 areas of "high
intensity" child exploitation in this country, as defined by the FBI.
(e) Studies have estimated that anywhere from 50 percent to 80
percent of victims of commercial sexual exploitation are, or
previously were, involved with the child welfare system.
(f) Law enforcement, probation, education, mental health, and
public health systems, as well as nonprofit organizations, currently
serve these victims, but often lack coordination in providing
services. These systems do not yet consistently recognize these young
people as victims who are subject to the cycle of commercial sexual
exploitation. Although they are learning to identify victims, they do
not yet have adequate service design, nor capacity, to provide
specialized services. Integrated strategies are necessary in order to
help child victims of sexual exploitation in California and to
ascertain the service models and strategies that are effective in the
recovery of the child and the child's future.
(g) According to the California Child Welfare Council,
there is a dearth of specialized placements and services to help
youth and their families when commercial sexual exploitation occurs.
Although legislation has recently been enacted to permit these
victims to enter the child welfare system in order to facilitate
placements and the provision of other essential services to these
victims, and other important implementation efforts are underway,
specially attuned services do not yet exist.
SEC. 2. Section 893.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
893.5. (a) The Board of State and Community Corrections
shall establish a pilot project in each of the Counties of
Sacramento, San Diego, and Santa Clara, in which, if the county
elects to participate in the pilot project, the
chief probation officer of a county may the
county shall create a program to provide services to youth
within his or her jurisdiction that addresses the need for services
relating to the commercial sexual exploitation of youth.
(b) Programs that receive funding pursuant to this section
shall be licensed by the State Department of Social Services and
may include, but shall not be limited to, programs
licensed by the State Department of Social Services that do
any of the following:
(1) Assess the youth victim's condition, including a review of the
extent of trauma suffered, physical and mental health, and the
status of age-appropriate developmental factors, such as educational
status.
(2) Serve exploited youth in a services-rich environment,
including trauma-informed counseling services.
(3) Research options, make recommendations, and work to find
solutions to provide specialized services and permanent placement
solutions for the youth.
(4) Provide staff who are trained to work with, and experienced in
working with, child sex trafficking victims.
(5) Include peer mentors in the design and provision of service
delivery.
(6) Provide a plan for how to structure a protective setting
secluded from the victim's trafficking environment, which could
include strategies such as a geographically remote location, staff
protective presence, delayed egress, or any combination of strategies
intended to protect the victim.
(c) Funding for the purposes described in
The pil ot projects established pursuant to this
section shall be funded contingent upon an appropriation
in the annual Budget Act. Funds appropriated for these purposes shall
be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections.