Jason Delgado
Human trafficking victims would receive special protections in Florida under a bill cleared by a House committee Tuesday.
The House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously advanced the bill (HB 523) without questions or debate. Republican Rep. Jackie Toledo of Tampa is the bill sponsor.
The proposal contains a slew of provisions and aims to “send a message that Florida will not tolerate human trafficking and that victims are not treated like criminals,” Toledo said.
It creates a privilege between a human trafficking victim advocate and a victim. The privilege, Toledo explained, is similar to those for sexual assault and domestic violence victims.
Such privacy would “allow for a victim to build trust with a person as they recover from the trauma,” Toledo elaborated.
The bill would also allow a human trafficking victim to expunge their criminal record at no cost if the crimes happened while the person was part of the human trafficking scheme.
“Currently, the process can take years and thousands of dollars to get through a single county,” Toledo said. “This change will impact the lives of the victim forever.”
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. Florida law defines human trafficking as “transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing, enticing, maintaining or obtaining another person for the purpose of exploitation of that person.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, roughly 24.9 million people are trafficked around the world while roughly 2.5 million are within the United States.
Notably, Florida ranks third in the nation for reported human trafficking cases.
In 2018, Florida received 767 reports of human trafficking cases — 149 of which were minors, according to the staff analysis.
The bill would further require that a person convicted of committing a sex act with a human trafficking victim complete sex offender probation.
Moreover, the proposal encourages state attorneys to adopt a pro-prosecution policy toward human trafficking.
If signed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.
The bill moves next to the House Judiciary Committee for a final committee stop.
