BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1731 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 6, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1731 (Atkins) - As Introduced January 28, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: Creates the Statewide Interagency Human Trafficking Task Force, comprised of specified agencies, to: 1) gather statewide data on human trafficking; 2) recommend interagency protocols and best practices for training and outreach to entities likely to encounter sex trafficking; and 3) evaluate and implement approaches to increase public awareness about human trafficking. AB 1731 Page 2 FISCAL EFFECT: Moderate General Fund cost to the Department of Justice of $175,000 in 2016-17 and $313,000 annually thereafter, for two positions. COMMENTS: 1)Background. In 2004 and 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded grants to create six regional task forces in California to combat human trafficking. In 2009 and 2010, the California Emergency Management Agency used American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant funds to supplement the original six task forces and establish three new regional task forces. As part of their work to combat human trafficking, the task forces provide training to a variety of audiences on how to identify and respond to the crime. From mid-2010 to mid-2012, California's task forces provided training to 25,591 law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, victim service providers, and other first responders. In 2013, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council prepared a guide for providers of victim services for minors that had been trafficked. The guide pointed out that each of the sectors involved in addressing commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors-victim and support services, health care, education, the legal sector, and the commercial sector-has specific roles to play. Adequate responses to trafficking of minors requires collaboration and coordination among all of these sectors, as well as at all levels-federal, state, and local. However, the efforts of individuals, groups, and organizations in different sectors and with different areas of expertise tend to be disconnected. AB 1731 Page 3 2)Purpose. According to the author, "California remains at the forefront in the fight against human trafficking and will continue to do so. Yet, there is not currently a statewide entity working to coordinate the efforts of all the relevant state agencies, to collect and analyze multi-faceted human trafficking data from around the state, and to increase awareness about human trafficking so that members of the public know how to identify and report human trafficking." AB 1731 creates California Interagency Human Trafficking Task Force, comprised of representatives from state agencies involved in law enforcement, social services, child welfare, labor, public health, and corrections and rehabilitation, education, and the courts. It directs the Task Force to do the following: a) Gather statewide data on sex and labor traffickers, sex buyers, and human trafficking victims, including statistics on prosecution of offenders as well as services provided to victims, including commercially sexually exploited children. b) Recommend interagency protocols and best practices for training and outreach to the law enforcement community, victim service providers, and other state or private sector employees likely to encounter sex trafficking, such as educators and hotel workers. c) Evaluate and implement approaches to increase public awareness about human trafficking and make new recommendations on these approaches. 3)Support: According to the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, "AB 1731 allows the various state AB 1731 Page 4 agencies to gather data and recommend protocols and best practices for training and outreach to law enforcement, victim service providers, and others. By collaborating on best practices, law enforcement and community partners will be better equipped to handle cases and encounters with human trafficking." 4)Related Legislation: AB 1730 (Atkins), 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. AB 1730 will be heard in this committee today. Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081