HB 7309 Summary

• Establishes a Trafficking in Persons Council within the Commission on Women, Children and Seniors with 18 members including state agency heads, law enforcement representatives, victim advocates, and public members appointed by legislative leaders; council must meet at least three times per year and develop training curricula and victim identification indicators.

• Elevates trafficking in persons from a Class B felony to a Class A felony and expands the definition to include sex trafficking, defined as recruitment, harboring, transportation or provision of a person for sexual conduct for a fee.

• Creates a new crime of commercial sexual abuse of a minor as a Class B felony (or Class A felony if the minor is under 15 years old) for paying for or soliciting sexual conduct with a person under 18 years of age.

• Requires specified businesses and establishments (massage services, hotels, airports, hospitals, rail stations, nail salons, liquor permit holders, etc.) to post human trafficking awareness notices in conspicuous locations; violations result in fines of $100 for first offense and $250 for subsequent offenses.

• Mandates training programs on human trafficking identification and reporting for law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, public defenders, hospital staff, and school employees, with initial completion required by July 1, 2018.