BILL NUMBER: SCR 88 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Runner AUGUST 25, 2015 Relative to Human Trafficking Awareness Month. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 88, as introduced, Runner. Human Trafficking Awareness Month. This measure would proclaim the month of January 2016 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, encourage all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate these criminal practices within and beyond our borders, and encourage members of the Legislature, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize and combat human trafficking. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. It is a crime that involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain a person for the purposes of labor or sexual exploitation; and WHEREAS, Approximately 800,000 young children, teenagers, men, and women are trafficked across international borders worldwide, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into the United States each year according to the United States Department of State; and WHEREAS, The public perception is that human trafficking victims are from other countries, but data from the Attorney General's 2012 report on human trafficking in California indicates that 72 percent of identified victims in the United States are American; and WHEREAS, The California Legislature recognizes the significant moral and economic harm of forced labor and human trafficking to both the State of California and citizens across the globe, and that ignoring this problem is detrimental not only to those enslaved but to society as a whole; and WHEREAS, The Legislature recognizes that California's extensive international border, its major harbors and airports, its powerful economy and accelerating population, its large immigrant population, and its industries, makes it a prime target for traffickers, and that combating slavery within California will serve to improve conditions both domestically and internationally; and WHEREAS, From mid-2010 to mid-2012, California's nine regional human trafficking task forces identified 1,277 victims, initiated 2,552 investigations, arrested 1,798 individuals, and provided training to 25,591 law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, victim service providers, and other first responders; and WHEREAS, Nonprofit organizations, whose missions are to assist trafficked individuals, provide resources allowing these victims an opportunity to restore their lives through physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual restoration; and WHEREAS, Americans are committed to individual freedom and will take the necessary steps to nonviolently stop modern day slavery around the world and help its victims through the continued work of community organizations and human trafficking task forces; and WHEREAS, Opposition to human trafficking by the American people will be directed against all individuals, groups, organizations, and nations that support, advance, or commit acts of modern day slavery; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims January 2016 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in California in order to encourage greater awareness of human trafficking within the State of California, the United States of America, and internationally; and be it further Resolved,That the Legislature encourages all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate these criminal practices within and beyond our borders; and be it further Resolved,That the Legislature encourages its members, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize and combat human trafficking; and be it further Resolved,That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.