What This Bill Does
This bill creates a training program to teach students, teachers, and school staff how to recognize and respond to signs of human trafficking and child exploitation. The bill requires the Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons to run a demonstration project in elementary and secondary schools across the country.
##
Who It Affects
- Students in elementary and secondary schools
- Teachers and school staff
- School principals and administrators
- School counselors and nurses
- School resource officers
- Nonprofit organizations that develop training materials
- Schools and school districts receiving grants
- Human trafficking survivors and exploited children
- State and federal law enforcement agencies
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Key Provisions
- The Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons must carry out a demonstration project to train students, teachers, and school personnel to understand, recognize, prevent, and respond to signs of human trafficking and exploitation in children and youth (Sec. 3(j)(1))
- The Director must approve nonprofit organizations as vendors to develop training materials and implement the training (Sec. 3(j)(3))
- The Director must award grants to eligible entities like nonprofits, schools, and school districts to implement the training using approved curricula (Sec. 3(j)(4))
- Approved vendors must develop curricula that are age-appropriate, culturally competent, evidence-based, and validated by university research partners (Sec. 3(j)(3)(B)(ii)(I))
- The Director must give priority to schools located in or serving areas with the highest rates of human trafficking or populations at highest risk, including homeless youth and youth in the foster care or child welfare systems (Sec. 3(j)(4)(B))
- The Director must establish procedures to help schools work with law enforcement and refer trafficking survivors and exploited children to appropriate social service agencies (Sec. 3(j)(2)(D))
- The Director must collect data on the number of entities trained, students and staff trained, survivors identified, and students identified as at risk of trafficking, while protecting privacy (Sec. 3(j)(5))
- The Director must submit annual reports to Congress starting one year after the law takes effect (Sec. 3(j)(5)(B))
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What Changes
If this bill becomes law, a new section will be added to the Public Health Service Act creating the demonstration project described above. Schools participating in the program will receive federal grant funding to implement human trafficking prevention training. The bill authorizes $15,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2024 through 2028 for this demonstration project.
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Important Definitions
- "School personnel" includes school resource officers, school nurses, school counselors, school principals, school administrators, and other school leadership (Sec. 3(j)(6)(B))
- "Train the Trainer" program means a program that trains instructors who can teach material to other instructors (Sec. 3(j)(3)(B)(ii)(III))
- "Elementary school," "secondary school," "local educational agency," and "State educational agency" have the meanings given in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Sec. 3(j)(6)(A))
- "Survival sex" means the exchange of sex for basic needs including clothing, food, shelter, or other basic necessities, without involvement of a third-party trafficker (Sec. 2(6))
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 623
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the implementation
of curricula for training students, teachers, and school personnel to
understand, recognize, prevent, and respond to signs of human trafficking
and exploitation in children and youth, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 30, 2023
Mr. BUCHANAN (for himself and Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for
the implementation of curricula for training students,
teachers, and school personnel to understand, recognize,
prevent, and respond to signs of human trafficking and
exploitation in children and youth, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Human Trafficking
4
and Exploitation Prevention Training Act’’.
5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
Congress finds the following:
2
(1) According to the National Human Traf-
3
ficking Hotline, operated by the National Human
4
Trafficking Resource Center, there is no single pro-
5
file for trafficking survivors—trafficking survivors
6
include adults and minors from rural, suburban, and
7
urban communities across the country. Survivors of
8
human trafficking have diverse socioeconomic back-
9
grounds, varied levels of education, and may be doc-
10
umented or undocumented. According to the 2018
11
Trafficking In Persons Report produced by the De-
12
partment of State, the Department of Justice, the
13
National Human Trafficking Resource Center, and
14
Youth.gov, vulnerable populations and risk factors
15
for human trafficking include—
16
(A) children in the child welfare and juve-
17
nile justice systems;
18
(B) runaway youth;
19
(C) homeless youth;
20
(D) youth forced to leave home by parents
21
or caregivers with no alternate care arranged;
22
(E) unaccompanied children;
23
(F) American Indians and Alaska Natives;
24
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•HR 623 IH
(G) migrant laborers, including undocu-
1
mented workers and individuals with temporary
2
visas;
3
(H) recent migration or relocation;
4
(I) persons with disabilities;
5
(J) LGBTI individuals;
6
(K) people of color;
7
(L) those with limited-English proficiency;
8
(M) low literacy;
9
(N) substance abuse;
10
(O) mental health issues;
11
(P) past trauma or violence;
12
(Q) stigma or discrimination;
13
(R) family conflict, disruption, or dysfunc-
14
tion;
15
(S) community-level risk factors such as
16
peer pressure, social norms, social isolation,
17
gang involvement, and living in an under-
18
resourced school, neighborhood, or community;
19
and
20
(T) society-level risk factors such as lack
21
of awareness of commercial exploitation and
22
human trafficking, sexualization of children,
23
and lack of resources.
24
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•HR 623 IH
(2) According to the National Human Traf-
1
ficking Resource Center, human trafficking survivors
2
have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural
3
areas in all 50 States, and in Washington, DC. The
4
3 States with the highest incidents of human traf-
5
ficking cases reported via phone calls, emails, and
6
online tips to the National Human Trafficking Hot-
7
line in 2018 were California, Texas, and Florida, re-
8
spectively.
9
(3) According to the National Human Traf-
10
ficking Resource Center, the top recruitment meth-
11
ods used by sex traffickers based on self-reported
12
data from survivors involve an intimate partner or
13
marriage proposition, family members, individuals
14
posing as a benefactor, offers of employment, or in-
15
dividuals perpetrating fraud or offering false prom-
16
ises.
17
(4) According to the National Center on Safe
18
Supportive Learning Environments, traffickers may
19
systematically target vulnerable children by fre-
20
quenting locations where children congregate—malls,
21
schools, bus and train stations, and group homes,
22
among other locations. Traffickers also use peers or
23
classmates who befriend the target and slowly groom
24
the child for the trafficker by bringing the child
25
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•HR 623 IH
along to parties and other activities. According to
1
Common Sense Media, nearly all children age 8 and
2
under live in a home with some type of mobile device
3
and use it every day. This is especially concerning
4
given that traffickers often recruit through social
5
media platforms and other websites.
6
(5) Those within vulnerable populations are
7
often exploited or groomed for entry into human
8
trafficking at a very young age. According to a 2005
9
clinical report, ‘‘The Evaluation of Sexual Abuse in
10
Children’’, published by the American Academy of
11
Pediatrics, studies have suggested that each year ap-
12
proximately 739,000 children experience some form
13
of sexual abuse, resulting in the sexual victimization
14
of 12 percent to 25 percent of girls and 8 percent
15
to 10 percent of boys before the age of 18.
16
(6) Sex trafficking and exploitation can take
17
many harmful forms, including a lesser-known but
18
just as damaging form of uncoerced exploitation re-
19
ferred to as ‘‘survival sex’’, meaning the exchange of
20
sex for basic needs including clothing, food, shelter,
21
or other basic necessities. Survival sex does not in-
22
volve a third-party trafficker or exploiter, and often
23
affects youth, including those who are homeless,
24
runaways, or housing-insecure, who lack the finan-
25
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•HR 623 IH
cial resources, job readiness, support system, or op-
1
portunity to afford or access these basic necessities.
2
(7) Training students, teachers, and school per-
3
sonnel to understand, recognize, and respond to
4
signs of human trafficking and exploitation in chil-
5
dren and youth is invaluable in the effort to identify
6
and prevent human trafficking and exploitation be-
7
fore it occurs. According to the National Human
8
Trafficking Resource Center, the widespread lack of
9
awareness and understanding of human trafficking
10
leads to low levels of survivor identification by the
11
people who most often encounter them. Survivors of
12
human trafficking are often forced to work or pro-
13
vide commercial sex against their will in legal and le-
14
gitimate business settings or underground markets.
15
It is often the case that those who are being ex-
16
ploited or trafficked are in plain view and may inter-
17
act with community members, underscoring the ur-
18
gent need for the expansion of training programs to
19
increase awareness and prevention activities in com-
20
munities across the United States.
21
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•HR 623 IH
SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TO TRAIN STUDENTS,
1
TEACHERS, AND SCHOOL PERSONNEL TO UN-
2
DERSTAND, RECOGNIZE, PREVENT, AND RE-
3
SPOND TO SIGNS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
4
AND CHILD EXPLOITATION.
5
Section 582 of the Public Health Service Act (42
6
U.S.C. 290hh–1) is amended—
7
(1) by redesignating subsections (j) and (k) as
8
subsections (k) and (l), respectively;
9
(2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol-
10
lowing:
11
‘‘(j) DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TO TRAIN STU-
12
DENTS, TEACHERS, AND SCHOOL PERSONNEL TO UN-
13
DERSTAND, RECOGNIZE, PREVENT, AND RESPOND
TO
14
SIGNS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND CHILD EXPLOI-
15
TATION.—
16
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office
17
on Trafficking in Persons of the Administration for
18
Children and Families (in this subsection referred to
19
as the ‘Director’) shall carry out a demonstration
20
project for training students, teachers, and school
21
personnel at elementary schools and secondary
22
schools to understand, recognize, prevent, and re-
23
spond to signs of human trafficking and exploitation
24
in children and youth.
25
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•HR 623 IH
‘‘(2) PROJECT ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the
1
demonstration project under this subsection, the Di-
2
rector shall—
3
‘‘(A) approve vendors pursuant to para-
4
graph (3);
5
‘‘(B) award grants pursuant to paragraph
6
(4);
7
‘‘(C) develop a reliable methodology for
8
vendors and grantees to collect, and report to
9
the Director, in a manner that prevents disclo-
10
sure of individually identifiable information con-
11
sistent with all applicable privacy laws and reg-
12
ulations, data on the number of human traf-
13
ficking survivors identified and served pursuant
14
to this subsection, the number of students in el-
15
ementary school or secondary school identified
16
as being at risk of being trafficked or exploited,
17
and the demographics of such survivors and
18
students at risk; and
19
‘‘(D) assist entities that are eligible for
20
grants under paragraph (4) in developing prop-
21
er protocols and procedures to—
22
‘‘(i) work with law enforcement to re-
23
port, and facilitate communication with,
24
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•HR 623 IH
human trafficking survivors and exploited
1
children; and
2
‘‘(ii) refer human trafficking survivors
3
and exploited children to appropriate social
4
or survivor service agencies or organiza-
5
tions.
6
‘‘(3) VENDORS.—
7
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the
8
demonstration project under this subsection,
9
the Director shall approve a list of nonprofit or-
10
ganizations as verified vendors—
11
‘‘(i) to develop or make available cur-
12
ricula for the training described in para-
13
graph (1); and
14
‘‘(ii) to implement such training in ac-
15
cordance with such curricula.
16
‘‘(B)
CONSIDERATIONS.—In
approving
17
vendors under this subsection, the Director
18
shall give consideration to whether the non-
19
profit organization—
20
‘‘(i) engages stakeholders, including
21
survivors of human trafficking, and Fed-
22
eral, State, local, and Tribal partners, to
23
develop the curricula; and
24
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•HR 623 IH
‘‘(ii) has a demonstrated expertise
1
in—
2
‘‘(I)
developing
human
traf-
3
ficking and exploitation prevention
4
curricula for students, teachers, or
5
school personnel in elementary school
6
and secondary school that is—
7
‘‘(aa) age-appropriate;
8
‘‘(bb) culturally competent;
9
‘‘(cc) evidence based;
10
‘‘(dd) validated by university
11
research partners;
12
‘‘(ee) inclusive of K–12 stu-
13
dents;
14
‘‘(ff) adaptive to all regions;
15
‘‘(gg) inclusive of all chil-
16
dren; and
17
‘‘(hh) based on vetted and
18
proven materials that have been
19
tested over a 3-year run of suc-
20
cess;
21
‘‘(II) training students, teachers,
22
or school personnel in identification
23
and proper response to human traf-
24
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•HR 623 IH
ficking described in paragraph (1);
1
and
2
‘‘(III) creating a scalable, repeat-
3
able ‘Train the Trainer’ program (de-
4
fined as a program that trains in-
5
structors who can teach material to
6
other instructors) that employs appro-
7
priate technology tools and methodolo-
8
gies,
including
measurement
and
9
training curricula.
10
‘‘(4) GRANTS.—
11
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the
12
demonstration project under this subsection,
13
the Director shall award grants to eligible enti-
14
ties to implement the training described in
15
paragraph (1) in accordance with the curricula
16
developed and made available by verified ven-
17
dors pursuant to paragraph (3).
18
‘‘(B) DIVERSITY OF GRANTS.—In award-
19
ing grants under this subsection, the Director
20
shall—
21
‘‘(i) consult with the Director of the
22
Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Adminis-
23
trator for the Office of Juvenile Justice
24
and Delinquency Prevention, the Director
25
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•HR 623 IH
of the Office for Victims of Crime, and the
1
head of the Office of Partnership and En-
2
gagement of the Department of Homeland
3
Security to identify the geographic areas in
4
the United States with the highest preva-
5
lence of reported human trafficking in-
6
stances for children, aged 5 through 17;
7
‘‘(ii) consult, as appropriate, with the
8
Secretary of Education, the Secretary of
9
Housing and Urban Development, the Sec-
10
retary of Labor, and the Attorney General
11
of the United States to identify the geo-
12
graphic areas in the United States with
13
the highest prevalence of at risk, vulner-
14
able, or underserved populations, including
15
homeless youth, foster youth, youth in-
16
volved in the child welfare system, and
17
runaways; and
18
‘‘(iii) give priority to eligible entities
19
located in, or primarily serving, one or
20
more areas identified pursuant to clause (i)
21
or (ii).
22
‘‘(C) ALLOCATION OF GRANT FUNDING.—
23
The Director shall ensure that all grant funds
24
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•HR 623 IH
under this subsection are awarded to applicants
1
who serve K–12 students.
2
‘‘(D) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the
3
term ‘eligible entity’ includes a nonprofit orga-
4
nization, an elementary school, a local edu-
5
cational agency, a secondary school, and a State
6
educational agency.
7
‘‘(5) DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING.—
8
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Director shall
9
collect, and report to the Congress, data on the
10
following:
11
‘‘(i) The total number of entities that
12
received a grant under this subsectio
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]