BILL ANALYSIS
AB 988
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 988 (Brownley) - As Amended: April 22, 2009
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Commission on Peace Officers Standards
and Training (POST), at the next regular review of a training
module relating to human trafficking, to create and make
available training on the U Visa, as authorized by the Victims
of Trafficking and Violence Act. The training shall include how
to inform victims about the U Visa and how to apply for a U
Visa.
Requires the agency designated to certify the training program
for human trafficking caseworkers be the same agency designated
to certify the training program for sexual assault counselors
(the California Emergency Management Agency - Cal-EMA), and
requires certification of the training program for human
trafficking caseworkers to be completed by June 30, 2010.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor absorbable costs, less than $25,000, to POST to create
and make available, presumably via video as part of the human
trafficking training module, training on the U Visa.
2)Moderate annual costs, likely in excess of $150,000 to
Cal-EMA, depending on the extent of the process, to certify
the training program for certification of human trafficking
caseworkers.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author's intent is to update POST's human
trafficking training module to include information on the U
AB 988
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Visa.
2)The U Visa was created by the federal Victims of Trafficking
and Violence Prevention Act, enacted in October 2000 and is
available to non-citizens who have suffered substantial
physical or mental abuse resulting from a wide range of
criminal activity, and have been helpful, or are likely to be
helpful with investigations. The U Visa authorizes eligible
immigrants to stay and work in the United States.
3)Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation or
sale of people for forced labor. Through violence and threats,
victims are forced to work in the sex trade, domestic labor,
factories, hotels and agriculture. According to the January
2005 United States Department of State's Human Smuggling and
Trafficking Center report, "Fact Sheet: Distinctions Between
Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking," an estimated 600,000
to 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across
international borders each year. Approximately 80% are women
and girls and up to 50% are minors. A recent report by the
Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley
cited 57 cases of forced labor in California between 1998 and
2003, with over 500 victims. The report, "Freedom Denied",
notes most of the victims in California were from Thailand,
Mexico, and Russia and had been forced to work as prostitutes,
domestic slaves, farm laborers or sweatshop employees.
4)Support . The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
(CAST) states, "AB 988 provides a certification process for
required training of human trafficking caseworkers. The
training is needed for the caseworker and client to be able to
invoke a confidentiality privilege for communications. The law
already provides for this privilege when a caseworker
completes certified training, but fails to designate who will
certify the training. This issue was recognized in the Final
Report of the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and
Slavery Task Force in October 2007. The Task Force was created
by Assembly Bill 22 (Lieber, 2005) and Senate Bill 180 (Kuehl,
2005) to analyze California's response to human trafficking.
The final product was the report, also known as the "Safe
State" report.
"This privilege also exists for sexual assault caseworkers.
The law provides that the Department of Finance will designate
an agency to certify the training as acceptable. Currently,
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the California Emergency Management Agency is the designated
agency for certifying sexual assault caseworker training. As
CalEMA is already well versed in these issues, which have
considerable overlap with human trafficking issues, AB 988
mirrors those provisions to have CalEMA certify the human
trafficking training.
5)Suggested Amendment . Given the state's fiscal concerns, and
the potential conflict between the bill's provisions that a)
require cooperation with authorities in order to qualify for
the U Visa in Section 1 of the bill and b) provide
confidentiality for victims and caseworkers in Section 2, the
author may wish to consider dropping Section 2 at this time.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081