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The bill was passed unanimously by both chambers of the General Assembly during the 2016 legislative session, and was co-sponsored by Sredzinski.
“With this legislation, we have taken an important step towards doing more to protect the victims of human trafficking,” said Sredzinski. “I am proud of the bipartisan collaboration that went into producing this legislation, and I know that we will only continue to build on our strong anti-human trafficking laws in the future to raise awareness of this issue and to aid victims.”
The bill, PA 16-71, includes many provisions that aim to both increase protections for victims of human trafficking and also impose stronger penalties on the perpetrators. Among its provisions, the legislation does the following:
- Requires operators of hotels and similar lodgings to maintain a record of all guest transactions for at least six months to help police investigations and to train their employees to recognize the signs of human trafficking
- Prohibits an individual aged 16 or 17 from being convicted of prostitution to protect underage victims of human trafficking
- Expands the acts classified as a class C felony under the crime of patronizing a prostitute and increases the penalty for other prostitution-related crimes
- Requires state’s attorneys and local police chiefs to report annually to the legislature’s Children’s and Judiciary committees on any human trafficking cases in their jurisdictions
The bill signing took place last week in the governor’s office at the State Capitol.
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