BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1760
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1760 (Santiago) - As Amended April 26, 2016
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| |Human Services | |6 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill directs a peace officer to take specific action when
coming in contact with a person who may be a victim of human
trafficking. AB 1760 also imposes a number or requirements on
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the Department of Social Services (DSS), Department of Health
Care Services (DHCS), and the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training (POST) related to child trafficking.
Specifically, this bill
1)Requires a peace officer, when coming into contact with a
person who is suspected to be a victim of human trafficking,
to make best efforts to determine if the person is such a
victim and further authorizes a peace officer to seek the
assistance of human trafficking experts, as specified, to make
a determination whether a person is a minor who is a human
trafficking victim.
2)Requires a peace officer to record the determination and
provide it to the district attorney when that officer has both
determined that a minor is a victim of human trafficking and
also suspects that the minor has committed other crimes as a
direct result of being a human trafficking victim.
3)Requires a peace officer to report suspected abuse or neglect
of a minor who is determined to be a victim of human
trafficking to the appropriate agency, and requires the peace
officer to consult with a child welfare worker regarding safe
placement for the minor for the purpose of separating the
minor from his or her trafficker, and further requires the
peace officer to transfer the minor to that placement.
4)Requires the existing administrator certification program for
group homes, the administrator certification program for
short-term residential treatment centers, the mandatory
training for licensed or certified foster parents, and the
training for mandated child abuse reporters and child welfare
personnel be amended to include instruction on cultural
competency and sensitivity and related best practices for
providing adequate care to child trafficking victims
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5)Requires DSS and DHCS, in consultation with specified
stakeholders, to identify tools and best practices to screen,
assess, and serve labor-trafficked minors, and report this
information to the Legislature by July 1, 2018.
6)Requires (POST), by July 1, 2018, to update its training to
include specific instruction on law enforcement
responsibilities to determine the status of children as
victims of human trafficking, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Unknown but significant reimbursable state mandated costs (GF)
by requiring a local peace officer to undertake additional
activities related to minors suspected of being victims of human
trafficking. However, since law enforcement agencies are
already mandated reporters, it is not clear the actual activity
that is reimbursable.
One-time cost in the range of $250,000 to $300,000 (GF) to DSS
for two or three positions to staff the working group and amend
the certification programs.
One-time cost of $230,000 (GF) for POST to update their human
trafficking training guidelines and curricula by July 1, 2018.
One-time cost in the range of $150,000 (GF) to DHCS for 1.5
positions to coordinate with DSS.
COMMENTS:
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1)Purpose. According to the author, "Child victims of human
trafficking are forced, induced, or coerced into providing
labor services, or sex. A trafficked child may be compelled to
engage in illegal activities such as prostitution or selling
drugs. Instead of being identified as trafficked and treated
as victims, many are treated as criminals and prosecuted for
the very crimes that were part of the traffickers'
victimization and profit.
"Currently in California, a minor can be prosecuted for
prostitution and for non-violent crimes their traffickers
forced them to commit. Arrest and prosecution further
traumatizes the victim and leaves him or her with a profound
distrust of law enforcement. This can deter victims from
seeking assistance or leave them vulnerable to continued
exploitation."
This bill would assist in insuring that law enforcement
offices, other stakeholders, and providers receive the
appropriate training to better assist the victims of
commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking and where
necessary the appropriate treatment and services for the care
and treatment of exploited children. This bill would further
provide for a consistent and appropriate legal response to
minors who are victims and survivors of commercial sexual
exploitation and sex trafficking.
2)Support: According to The California Public Defenders
Association, while law enforcement officers are often the
earliest to respond to minors that are the victims of
commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, many law
enforcement personnel do not recognize commercial sexual
exploitation and sex trafficking of minors as serious
problems. As a result, they fail to identify victims of these
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crimes and may be uncertain about how to handle these cases.
3)Oppose. According to The California State Sheriffs'
Association, "It is not the role of a frontline law
enforcement officer to make a determination that a person is
actually the victim of a crime. Rather, officers gather facts
and investigate crime scenes to form reasonable beliefs about
what might have transpired. It is the duty of the prosecutor
to allege liability and victim status, and perhaps confer
immunity to certain parties. This bill jumbles that
relationship and requires peace officers to effectively
determine whether or not certain persons are criminally liable
for their behavior."
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4)Related Legislation:
a) AB 1675 (Stone), also on today's calendar, provides that
a minor who commits the crimes of solicitation,
prostitution, or loitering with the intent to commit
prostitution, is subject to the jurisdiction of the
juvenile dependency court rather than delinquency court.
b) AB 1731 (Atkins), currently in this committee's Suspense
file, authorizes the chief probation officer of a county to
create a program to provide services to youth within the
county that address the need for services relating to the
commercial sexual exploitation of youth.
c) AB 1761 (Weber), also on today's calendar, creates an
affirmative defense against a charge of a nonviolent crime
that was committed as a direct result of being a human
trafficking victim. AB 1761 is being heard in this
committee today.
d) AB 1762 (Campos), also on today's calendar, allows an
individual convicted of a nonviolent crime while he or she
was human trafficking victim to apply to the court to
vacate the conviction at any time after it was entered.
e) SB 1322 (Mitchell), in Senate Appropriations Committee,
decriminalizes specified prostitution related offenses
committed by a person under 18, but authorizes a peace
officer to take a minor into temporary custody.
5)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 1585 (Alejo), Chapter 708, Statutes of 2014, provides
that a defendant who has been convicted of solicitation or
prostitution may petition the court to set aside the
conviction if the defendant can establish by clear and
convincing evidence that the conviction was the result of
his or her status as a victim of human trafficking.
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b) AB 2040 (Swanson), Chapter 197, Statutes of 2012,
provides that a person who was adjudicated a ward of the
court for the commission of a violation of specified
provisions prohibiting prostitution may petition a court to
have his or her records sealed as these records pertain to
the prostitution offenses without showing that he or she
has not been subsequently convicted of a felony or
misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, or that
rehabilitation has been attained.
c) AB 1940 (Hill), 2012, would have authorized a court to
seal a record of conviction for prostitution based on a
finding that the petitioner is a victim of human
trafficking, that the offense is the result of the
petitioner's status as a victim of that crime, and that the
petitioner is therefore factually innocent. AB 1940 was
held in this committee's Suspense file.
d) AB 22 (Lieber), Chapter 240, Statutes of 2005, created
the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which
established civil and criminal penalties for human
trafficking and allowed for forfeiture of assets derived
from human trafficking. In addition, the Act required law
enforcement agencies to provide Law Enforcement Agency
Endorsement to trafficking victims, providing trafficking
victims with protection from deportation and created the
human trafficking task force.
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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