Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 88

Introduced by Senator Runner

August 25, 2015

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 88—Relative to Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 88, as introduced, Runner. Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

This measure would proclaim the month of January 2016 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, encourage all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate these criminal practices within and beyond our borders, and encourage members of the Legislature, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize and combat human trafficking.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery.
It is a crime that involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to
recruit, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain a person for the
purposes of labor or sexual exploitation; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 800,000 young children, teenagers,
men, and women are trafficked across international borders
worldwide, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are
trafficked into the United States each year according to the United
States Department of State; and

WHEREAS, The public perception is that human trafficking
victims are from other countries, but data from the Attorney
General’s 2012 report on human trafficking in California indicates
that 72 percent of identified victims in the United States are
American; and

WHEREAS, The California Legislature recognizes the
significant moral and economic harm of forced labor and human
trafficking to both the State of California and citizens across the
globe, and that ignoring this problem is detrimental not only to
those enslaved but to society as a whole; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature recognizes that California’s
extensive international border, its major harbors and airports, its
powerful economy and accelerating population, its large immigrant
population, and its industries, makes it a prime target for traffickers,
and that combating slavery within California will serve to improve
conditions both domestically and internationally; and

WHEREAS, From mid-2010 to mid-2012, California's nine
regional human trafficking task forces identified 1,277 victims,
initiated 2,552 investigations, arrested 1,798 individuals, and
provided training to 25,591 law enforcement personnel,
prosecutors, victim service providers, and other first responders;
and

WHEREAS, Nonprofit organizations, whose missions are to
assist trafficked individuals, provide resources allowing these
victims an opportunity to restore their lives through physical,
mental, emotional, and spiritual restoration; and

WHEREAS, Americans are committed to individual freedom
and will take the necessary steps to nonviolently stop modern day
slavery around the world and help its victims through the continued
work of community organizations and human trafficking task
forces; and

WHEREAS, Opposition to human trafficking by the American
people will be directed against all individuals, groups,
organizations, and nations that support, advance, or commit acts
of modern day slavery; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims January 2016
as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in California in order to
encourage greater awareness of human trafficking within the State
of California, the United States of America, and internationally;
and be it further

Resolved,That the Legislature encourages all Californians to
become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate
these criminal practices within and beyond our borders; and be it
further

Resolved,That the Legislature encourages its members, as well
as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor
and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support
to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize
and combat human trafficking; and be it further

Resolved,That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.