Sb 158 - Human Trafficking

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Citation: Vol. 36 No. 1
• Publication year: 2019

SB 158 - Human Trafficking

Starr Crafton

Georgia State University College of Law, ncrafton@student.gsu.edu

Lillian K. Henry

Georgia State University College of Law, lhenry14@student.gsu.edu

SB 158 - Human Trafficking

Cover Page Footnote

The Act authorizes the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to provide care and supervision without a court order for children who are victims of human trafficking. Additionally, the Act requires law enforcement and DFCS to refer child victims to authorized victim assistance organizations. Children may now also now be removed from their homes without parental consent if they are found to be victims of human trafficking. The Act expands the criminal definition of human trafficking to assign criminal liability to those who benefit financially from another's sexual servitude. The Act restricts the crime of prostitution to those eighteen years of age or older. The Act repeals the crime of pandering by compulsion. The Act provides that the use of property for human trafficking or certain drug-related charges constitutes a nuisance. Lastly, the Act defines notice requirements for nuisance related charges.

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CRIMES AND OFFENSES

Sexual Offenses: Amend Titles 9, 15, 16, 17, and 41 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Civil Practice, Courts, Crimes and Offenses, Criminal Procedure, and Nuisances, Respectively, so as to Provide Additional Safeguards and Protections against Human Trafficking; Authorize DFCS to Provide Care and Supervision to Children Who Are Victims of Human Trafficking; Expand Prohibitions against Trafficking of Persons for Labor or Sexual Servitude; Revise the Definition of Prostitution; Increase the Penalties for certain Sexual Offenses; Repeal the Crime of Pandering by Compulsion; Provide that the Use of Certain Property in Connection with Sexually Related Offenses or Drug Related Offenses Constitutes a Nuisance and to Provide for what Constitutes Notice of Such Use; Provide a Short Title; Provide for Related Matters; Conform Certain Cross-references; Provide an Effective Date and for Applicability; Repeal Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes

Code Sections: O.C.G.A. §§ 9-3-33 (amended); 15-11-130, -133 (amended); 15-21-208 (amended); 16-5-46 (amended); 16-6-9, -13, -14 (amended); 16-14-3 (amended); 17-8-55 (amended); 41-3-1 (amended)

Bill Number: SB 158

Act Number: 30

Georgia Laws: 2019 Ga. Laws 30

Summary: The Act authorizes the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to provide care and supervision without a court order for children who are victims of human trafficking. Additionally, the Act requires law enforcement and DFCS to refer child victims to authorized victim assistance organizations. Children may now also

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now be removed from their homes without parental consent if they are found to be victims of human trafficking. The Act expands the criminal definition of human trafficking to assign criminal liability to those who benefit financially from another's sexual servitude. The Act restricts the crime of prostitution to those eighteen years of age or older. The Act repeals the crime of pandering by compulsion. The Act provides that the use of property for human trafficking or certain drug-related charges constitutes a nuisance. Lastly, the Act defines notice requirements for nuisance related charges.

Effective Date: July 1, 2019

History

For years, Georgia has continuously battled human trafficking for labor and sexual servitude.¹ Georgia's well-developed tourism and agriculture industries combined with its robust infrastructure, including an international airport, major highways, and ports, allow traffickers to profit while easily transporting victims.² Recognizing that the state needed more tools to face this issue, state representatives introduced Senate Bill (SB) 158 to address the effects of human trafficking. Over the past decade, human trafficking has likely increased due to the ubiquity of the internet.³ However, the full extent of human trafficking is difficult to quantify as a majority of

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cases go unreported, and those that are reported are often overlooked because local law enforcement has not been adequately trained on the issue.⁴ Further, as recently as 2012, a majority of law enforcement agencies in Georgia had no formal documentation of human trafficking cases or victims.⁵ Since human trafficking was first criminalized in the State of Washington in 2003,⁶ staggering statistics, both worldwide and domestic, have bolstered public outcry against human trafficking and increased awareness around the issue.⁷ Though Georgia was already being nationally recognized for its progressive legislation combatting human trafficking, the opportunity remained for additional legislation.⁸ Senator Brian Strickland (D-17th) stated that SB 158 was introduced now because of the "growing concern about hotels and other establishments enabling human trafficking to occur on their premises"⁹ and because "our laws [were] not up to date to address the numerous juvenile victims of these crimes."¹⁰ Further, Governor Brian Kemp (R), who took office in 2019, and his wife, Marty Kemp, were influential in the introduction of human trafficking related legislation.¹¹ Senator Strickland, working directly with the Kemp administration, explained that "[p]rior to taking office, [t]he Governor and First Lady learned about horrors of human trafficking occurring in Georgia and were inspired to make this a priority issue this [l]egislative session."¹² Although Georgia's legislature has undertaken related bills in the past, in the 2019 Session, representatives "directly addressed the

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businesses profiting off [of] this activity" and considered "how to handle juveniles that are the victims of human trafficking."¹³

One event which possibly influenced the introduction of SB 158 was Super Bowl LIII, which took place in Atlanta in February 2019.¹⁴ Historically, and in 2019, human trafficking reports spiked in cities hosting the Super Bowl.¹⁵ Atlanta has always been a hotbed of human trafficking, but the problem was exacerbated by the massive influx of people and money into the city.¹⁶ Many news reports were circulating in February 2019, warning people to be on the lookout for human traffickers in Atlanta.¹⁷

However, the greater Atlanta area combatted sex-trafficking long before the 2019 Super Bowl, and local prosecutors eventually began to think of creative ways to tackle the problem.¹⁸ In 2018, the Cobb County District Attorney's Office participated in a successful investigation of human traffickers at the Masters Inn, a hotel in Marietta, Georgia.¹⁹ utilizing a new strategy, the Cobb District Attorney's Office used Georgia's nuisance statute to successfully prosecute the hotel that was facilitating sex trafficking and hold it criminally liable.²⁰ Before that conviction, "[n]obody had taken a nuisance action against a hotel before for sex trafficking."²¹ District Attorney Chuck Boring and his team "used the 'substantially drug-related' portion of the nuisance statute" to facilitate the hotel's nuisance liability.²² With the additions included in SB 158,

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prosecutors no longer have to rely on a clumsy drug-related nuisance statute to prosecute sex trafficking in the hotel industry.²³ "Some parts of this bill were gradual changes from previous legislation, but what is really novel about the bill is the nuisance part," explained District Attorney Boring. Although every state has passed legislation addressing human trafficking, the policies regarding the treatment of victims and aspects of prosecution vary.²⁴ SB 158 was not explicitly based on another state's or federal law, making this legislation unique to Georgia.²⁵

Bill Tracking of SB 158

Consideration and Passage by the Senate

Senators Brian Strickland (R-17th), Blake Tillery (R-19th), Renee Unterman (R-45th), Mike Dugan (R-30th), and Butch Miller (R-49th) sponsored SB 158 in the Senate.²⁶ On February 22, 2019, the Senate first read SB 158, and Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R) assigned the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee.²⁷ The Committee favorably reported the bill on February 26, 2019.²⁸ On February 27, 2019, the Senate read the bill a second time.²⁹ The Senate then voted to pass the bill on March 1, 2019, by a vote of 54 to 0.³⁰ After the House passed the substitute on March 26, the Senate agreed to the substitute on March 29, 2019, by a vote of 52 to 0.³¹ The Senate then

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sent SB 158 to Governor Brian Kemp (R) on April 5, 2019.³² Governor Kemp signed it into law on April 18, 2019.³³ The bill took effect on July 1, 2019.³⁴

Consideration and Passage by the House

Representative Bert Reeves (R-34th) sponsored SB 158 in the House.³⁵ On March 4, 2019, the House first read SB 158.³⁶ The following day, the House read the bill for a second time and Speaker David Ralston (R-7th) assigned it to the Juvenile Justice Committee.³⁷ On March 21, 2019, the Juvenile Justice Committee met and favorably reported a Committee substitute to SB 158.³⁸ The Committee substitute contained many changes to the original bill.

First, the substitute removed the distinction of "commercial" sexual exploitation from the definition of children suspected of being victims of sexual exploitation in Section 1-3 of the bill.³⁹ Additionally in Section 1-3, the substitute clarified that any victim assistance organizations utilized shall be certified by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, pursuant to Code section 15-21-132.⁴⁰ Next, in Section 1-5, the substitute made the language defining the offense of human trafficking more concise.⁴¹ In Section 1-6, the substitute raised the age requirement for the crime of prostitution to eighteen years of age or older from seventeen years of age or older.⁴² The substitute also clarified the penalties for those convicted for violating Code sections 16-6-9 through 16-6-12 in Section 1-7 of the bill, requiring both a fine and period of...